digATL | The Digital Atlanta Portal

This walking tour was inspired by and incorporates much of the Georgia State University Library online exhibit The Elevated City by Associate Dean Bryan Sinclair, examining Atlanta’s long history of constructing viaducts, platforms, and elevated streets as a way of quite literally rising above its challenges. Our tour builds on this analysis by bringing these layered spaces into physical experience, guiding participants through the built environments that reflect this defining feature of Atlanta’s urban development. Unlike most major cities which develop along rivers or coastlines, Atlanta grew around railroads. While the rail lines were central to the city’s economic growth, they also created physical divisions within the urban landscape. In response, Atlanta began building upward—constructing viaducts and elevated streets across downtown to separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic from the rail corridors below. This strategy reshaped the city and led to the creation of significant landmarks such as Underground Atlanta and the Gulch, both of which reveal how layers of infrastructure can obscure, transform, or redefine urban space over time.