Eugene Murray Jr. sells produce at DM Fruit and Produce in Jonesboro, and he has a simple rule about the six-lane highway running past his stand: he does not cross it. Tara Boulevard, the busy corridor linking Atlanta and Clayton County, has claimed too many lives for him to risk it. “A lot of people have died on here,” Murray said.
Now Clayton County has secured a multi-million-dollar federal grant aimed at making that walk safer, according to WSB-TV. The Atlanta Regional Commission awarded the county $5.4 million for what officials are calling the Right-of-Way project, which will bring new sidewalks and lighting to the corridor. County commissioners formally approved acceptance of the funding, along with a companion $8 million grant for a Multipurpose Operations and Maintenance Facility to support expanded bus transit, at a board meeting on September 2.
A Corridor With a Body Count
The Right-of-Way project focuses on pedestrian safety efforts along Tara Boulevard, with the stated goals of reducing serious crashes and expanding access to jobs, services and other destinations along the route. Clayton County Commissioner Demont Davis, who obtained the $5.4 million in federal grant money, described Tara Boulevard as a very dangerous corridor needing attention, and he said residents make constant calls demanding improvements along it.
That pressure is backed by hard numbers. Clayton County's 2024 Comprehensive Plan found that between 2018 and 2022, two Tara Boulevard intersections ranked among the deadliest and most crash-prone in the county, led by Old Dixie Highway at Tara Boulevard with 877 crashes and Lake Spivey Parkway at Tara Boulevard with 475 crashes, according to the Clayton County Board of Commissioners. State transportation mapping and pedestrian hazard analyses have gone further, designating Tara Boulevard and Upper Riverdale Road as part of the top 10 most fatal roadway corridors in Georgia, per the City of Lovejoy.
What Gets Built, and When
The Georgia Department of Transportation plans to start a crosswalk installation project within 30 days, part of its State Route 3 / Tara Boulevard Pedestrian Safety Improvements plan. That GDOT effort will install crosswalks stopping six lanes of traffic at six intersections along the corridor, along with Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons, ADA-compliant ramps and raised concrete medians at five designated mid-block locations between Upper Riverdale Road and Robert E. Lee Parkway, according to the agency's project documentation.
Davis said he hopes the new construction will draw drivers' attention and slow them down, and he added that new sidewalks and lighting will make drivers ease off the gas. Murray sees it the same way from behind his produce stand: he called the grant a positive development, noting that Tara Boulevard sees constant traffic and remains unsafe to cross on foot.
Years of Planning Behind the Concrete
This is not the county's first swing at the problem. The Atlanta Regional Commission board allocated federal funding in December 2022 through its Transportation Improvement Program to build continuous sidewalks, ADA ramps and street and pedestrian lighting along an 11.5-mile stretch of Tara Boulevard reaching to the Henry County line. That effort traced back to a $400,000 Livable Centers Initiative grant the commission awarded Clayton County in May 2022 for the Tara Gateway Study, which examined pedestrian safety, bus route access and commercial redevelopment along Upper Riverdale Road, Jonesboro and Lovejoy.
The county has also chipped away at the problem on its own. In 2023, Clayton County installed 14 mid-block pedestrian crossings with concrete refuge islands near MARTA bus stops, aiming to protect transit riders crossing the multi-lane thoroughfares that crisscross the county. Atlanta Regional Commission Executive Director and CEO Anna Roach said the commission's investments demonstrate what can be accomplished through communication, collaboration and a shared commitment to regional progress, adding that they represent greater safety, mobility, economic opportunity and improved quality of life for Clayton County residents.
The Cost of Waiting
The dangers of Tara Boulevard extend beyond pedestrian crossings. A 2015 high-speed collision involving a driver allegedly traveling over 100 mph while using Snapchat left a motorist with a permanent traumatic brain injury and triggered a multi-year civil liability lawsuit now set for trial later this year, as previously reported by Hoodline. That case underscores the corridor's long history of extreme speeding, a hazard the new sidewalks, lighting and beacons are specifically designed to counter.
The stakes for the broader county have only grown. Clayton County saw a 30.8% surge in pedestrian fatalities between 2023 and 2024, with deaths climbing from 13 to 17, according to Clayton County Police Department records reported by Hoodline in an earlier report on a fatal I-285 pedestrian crash. For Murray and other Jonesboro residents who still won't set foot across Tara Boulevard, the new funding marks a shift from years of studies and promises toward actual concrete, lighting and crosswalks on the ground.
