"The public is starting to learn the road rules of a roundabout which takes time." That line comes from the Buckhead Community Improvement District's board minutes of January 28, 2026. Tony Peters was briefing the board on the intersection where Wieuca Road meets Phipps Boulevard. Drivers were already using the new circle. The dedicated lane from Peachtree Road straight to Wieuca was still about 10 days from opening, and the second lane of the roundabout was about three weeks out. A board member asked about how tight the turn was, and Peters said the contractors would correct it.
Eight months later, Buckhead CID's newsletter used a headline that would have read as overdue to anyone driving that stretch: "Two projects that reshape how people move through Buckhead are now officially open." The two are the Lenox Boardwalk and the Wieuca-Phipps roundabout. Both are real gains. Both are also the short, early pieces of a longer plan. The pieces that would let someone walk from Lenox MARTA past Phipps Boulevard and over Georgia 400 have dates on them, and this past decade on Lenox Road shows how those dates tend to behave.
Open in January, finished in September
Both projects carried people well before anyone called them finished. On January 8, 2026, Livable Buckhead described the boardwalk as substantially complete and open for use. The official sign-off came at the end of September. In between, the forecasts kept moving.
| When | Lenox Boardwalk | Wieuca-Phipps roundabout |
|---|---|---|
| January 8, 2026 | Described as substantially complete and open for use | Described as substantially complete |
| January 28, 2026 | 85% complete, with completion expected before the CID's April board meeting | Peachtree-to-Wieuca bypass lane due in about 10 days, both circle lanes in about three weeks |
| February 2026 | Atlanta Business Chronicle reports full completion on course for April | |
| May 21 to June 3, 2026 | In its "final weeks," with lighting and landscaping due by June 12 | Wider Wieuca corridor said to be on track for May 31 |
| Late September 2026 | Declared finished and open | Declared finished and open |
The gap between "open for use" and "complete" was mostly finishing work, such as lighting, landscaping, and the turn radius. Day to day, little changed between spring and fall. What changed is the official record. Both projects are now closed out, and the CID's attention has moved down Lenox Road.
The roundabout's long road to a finish line
The Wieuca-Phipps roundabout has the longer history, and it is the better guide to how dates move on these projects.
- June 2017. A public meeting handout targeted a construction start in the third quarter of 2018 and estimated 24 months of work.
- April 2019. Rough Draft reported that the project had stalled amid community criticism and city funding shortfalls, and then returned with a new design.
- October 2021. Buckhead.com listed an estimated start in the first quarter of 2022.
- 2023. A CID fact sheet said construction was scheduled to begin that year.
- 2024. A Livable Buckhead listing put the start at April 2024 and completion at November 2025.
- July 2025. With crews working, CID minutes still forecast completion before the end of November.
- September 2026. Officially complete.
That is more than nine years from the handout to the newsletter, for an intersection project the CID values at $4 million, funded by the City of Atlanta and Buckhead CID. None of this is unusual for urban road work that involves multiple agencies. The newsletter thanked the City of Atlanta, the Georgia Department of Transportation, MARTA, Pond & Company, and Kimley-Horn, which shows how many parties have to agree on a single intersection.
What the drive through Wieuca and Phipps looks like now
Before the project, the intersection had a signal, a northbound bypass lane, and left-turn lanes. In 2015, Rough Draft described the old free-flowing left turn as confusing, with drivers unsure whether to yield to oncoming traffic or stop. Today an 85-foot landscaped island sits where there used to be what Urbanize called an asphalt expanse "the size of a small parking lot." Crosswalks, bike lanes, and placemaking signage surround it.
The roundabout is part of a 0.32-mile Wieuca corridor project. That project also added a new signal at Old Ivy Road, protected two-way bike lanes, a side path, pedestrian lighting, and landscaping. For many trips, the most useful piece is the one you can skip the circle with. A dedicated lane takes drivers from Peachtree Road directly to Wieuca Road without entering the roundabout.
Buckhead CID calls this Atlanta's first multi-lane roundabout, so most local drivers have no habit for it. The research found no lane diagram for this specific intersection. The Georgia Department of Transportation publishes general guidance for multi-lane roundabouts:
- Choose your lane from the approach signs and pavement markings before you enter.
- Yield to vehicles already in the circle, travel counterclockwise, and do not stop inside it.
- Signal left for a left turn and right for a right turn. Signal right as you pass the exit before yours.
- Stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk.
- Cyclists may ride through as a vehicle, near the middle of the lane, or use a sidewalk or shared-use path. Here, the corridor has its own bike facilities.
At a 2019 public meeting, project officials said the intersection could stay congested at rush hour even after the rebuild. No traffic results since completion have been published yet.
The boardwalk, and what it replaced
Buckhead CID's 2018 study of Lenox Road listed the conditions the boardwalk was built to fix:
- narrow sidewalks right next to fast traffic
- sidewalks that ended abruptly
- guardrails and a retaining wall that blocked pedestrian access to Lenox Square
- little buffer or pedestrian space near the JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead
The finished boardwalk cost $15.6 million and runs 0.44 miles along Lenox Road. It goes from MARTA's Lenox station at East Paces Ferry Road to Peachtree Road on an elevated path 10 to 12 feet wide. It has new pedestrian lighting, updated traffic signal mast arms, and tree shade that Urbanize describes as partial. The CID describes its purpose as a safer, more direct connection between Lenox MARTA, Lenox Square, and the nearby retail, hospitality, and business destinations.
Some of the boardwalk is still being decided. The January minutes say the plans include public benches, but the board chose to wait on installing them "to determine what's most needed." Board member Sean Carroll said at the same meeting that the project had made a big difference in walkability. Commenters on Urbanize's September coverage raised the parking-lot surroundings and the removal and replacement of trees. Commenters on its November 2025 construction story had already questioned how much shade the route would get. Those are reader comments, not reported findings. Where the benches end up will be one of the first signs of how the CID reads actual use of the path.
Where the walk stops, and the dates that come next
The boardwalk ends at Peachtree Road. The CID calls it the "design standard for the two sections still to come," and those two sections are where the larger plan is headed. The full Lenox Road Complete Safe Street project runs 1.25 miles from the MARTA station to Piedmont Road. The boardwalk covers about a third of it.
Phase two runs from Peachtree Road to Phipps Boulevard and includes the entrance to Alliance Center. The CID calls this stretch one that "anchors some of Buckhead's top shopping and dining destinations." The plan calls for wider sidewalks, upgraded ramps and staircases, traffic flow and streetscape changes, and more lighting. The estimated cost is about $10 million. As of late September, it is in final engineering, with right-of-way acquisition and permitting still ahead and groundbreaking expected in 2027.
Phase three is a 0.62-mile elevated pedestrian and bicycle bridge where Lenox Road meets Georgia 400. At one point the Buckhead Loop there is 10 lanes wide. Officials say the bridge will connect with PATH400 and the planned highway-capping park. The CID calls it "first-of-its-kind" and says it will close "one of Buckhead's hardest gaps for anyone not in a car." The cost is estimated at $40 million to $56 million, partly funded by a $10 million federal grant. Groundbreaking is now set for 2028, after earlier projections of 2027.
The boardwalk itself went through the same slips. Construction was expected to begin in late 2023, then spring 2024. It finally got going in late 2025, after two years of delays. The bridge has already moved back a year before any design is final. Treat 2027 and 2028 as the CID's current targets. On the record so far, they are not promises.
One small detail links the finished work to what comes next. In January, Jim Durrett told the board he had been discussing ideas for a public sculpture with Mark Karelson of The Hambridge Center and Katherine Dirga of MARTA's Artbound program. He proposed a penny-farthing bicycle, an old-style bike with a huge front wheel. The board discussed two possible spots, Lenox Section 3 or the Phipps-Wieuca roundabout. One of those spots is finished and drivable today. The other is a bridge scheduled to break ground in 2028.
If you want to know how the next two Lenox Road phases might affect the blocks you drive and walk, or a property you are weighing near Lenox Square and Phipps Boulevard, the agents at Dorsey Alston Realtors follow these projects closely and would be glad to talk them through with you.
