ATLANTA, Ga. — The leaders behind the Stitch, the plan to cap Atlanta’s Downtown Connector and build a 17-acre park over the interstate, are trying again for federal money.
The Stitch team has applied for a $60 million federal transportation grant through the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-saving Transportation program, known as PROTECT.
The new application follows a major setback last year, when more than $150 million in federal funding the project had won under the Biden administration was clawed back after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025.
The project aims to physically and economically reconnect parts of the city that were divided when the Downtown Connector was built decades ago. Phase 1 calls for an approximately 450-foot bridge structure over I-75/I-85, with parks, plazas and pedestrian paths between the existing Peachtree Street and Courtland Street bridges.
Phase 1 covers about 5 acres of new park space and also includes nearly eight miles of multimodal, safety and streetscape improvements along West Peachtree Street, Peachtree Street, Courtland Street, Piedmont Avenue, Pine Street, Currier Street and Ivan Allen/Ralph McGill Boulevard.
Planned features include an interactive water feature, an open-air event pavilion for roller skating and seasonal ice skating, and a building with a café, restrooms and outdoor seating.
Stitch CEO Jack Cebe has compared the finished cap to the Georgia 400 tunnel at the Atlanta Financial Center in Buckhead. Developers say the first visible work could come as soon as late 2027, starting with street improvements for walkability and safety.
The project is being delivered by Atlanta Downtown Stitch Inc., a nonprofit set up in 2024 by the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, working with the City of Atlanta and the Georgia Department of Transportation.
