This article is about the community along Georgia State Route 13, Buford Highway. For information about the road itself, see Georgia State Route 13. For the city in Gwinnett and Hall Counties, see Buford, Georgia.
Buford Highway (also Buford Highway Corridor), a.k.a. the DeKalb International Corridor,[4][5] and in the 1990–2000's as the DeKalb CountyInternational Village district,[6] is a community northeast of the city of Atlanta, celebrated for its ethnic diversity and spanning multiple counties including Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. The area generally spans along and on either side of a stretch of Georgia State Route 13 (SR 13) in DeKalb County. It begins just north of Midtown Atlanta, continues northeast through the towns of Brookhaven, Chamblee, Doraville, and Norcross. The name of the corridor originates from the name of the highway which connects to the city of Buford. Creative Loafing's Atlanta edition named Buford Highway Atlanta's "best neighborhood for diversity" in their March 2012 Neighborhood Guide.[7] The population exceeds 50,000.[8]
Buford Highway is an ethnically diverse, linear community made up of apartment complexes, suburban neighborhoods and shopping centers. Similar to other sun belt cities, immigrants who relocated to Atlanta in the 20th and 21st centuries went straight to the suburbs, where residential and commercial real estate was affordable and where many second-generation immigrant communities were already established. Along Buford Highway, there are few wholly distinct ethnic areas. The more than 1,000 immigrant-owned businesses are owned by and patronized by a wide variety of ethnic groups,[9][10] notably Korean, Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese, and also Indian, Bangladeshi, Central American, Somali, and Ethiopian. The DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce calls the area the "International Corridor."[11]
The interior of the Buford Highway Farmer's Market
The Buford Highway community is home to one of the highest concentration of foreign-born residents in the country, notably Mexican, Central American, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. The area attracted many Latino workers during the construction boom that preceded the 1996 Olympic Games. Asian business owners were attracted to the stretch of highway by cheap leases and reliable traffic flow.[12]
In 2017, the man who came up with the idea for the BeltLine ring of trails around Atlanta, Ryan Gravel, announced that he would turn his attention to Buford Highway. His new non-profit named "Generator" would partner with another non-profit, We Love BuHi, to find ways to celebrate the diversity of the community and preserve its culture, with the aim of coming with realistic civic proposals around issues such as gentrification, transit and affordability.[13]
HistoryEdit
Buford Highway originated as a non-descript state roadway connecting Atlanta and points northeast, including the then-railroad towns of Chamblee and Doraville, as well as points farther north. The towns of Doraville, Chamblee and Norcross had long been home to a blue collar, largely white, lower middle-class population. The highway was characterized by strip mall development, and apartment complexes sprouted up in the 1960s and 1970s.[9] In 1976 the first ethnic restaurant opened, the Havana Sandwich Shop. In the 1980s, immigrants settled in the area due to affordable housing, available public transportation, and proximity to construction jobs in growing Gwinnett County.[14] The area attracted many Latino workers during the construction boom that preceded the 1996 Olympic Games. Asian business owners were attracted to the stretch of highway by cheap leases and reliable traffic flow.[12]
During the 1996 Olympics, Chamblee embraced the growing international character of Buford Highway, while more conservative Doraville resisted it. As the Southern Foodways Alliance reported:
"Why would we want to attract more immigrants when we got all we want?" asked Doraville mayor Lamar Lang to the press. "That's just not our way of life here," agreed the city council. "We’re basically Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians."[14]
Buford Highway is, in most places in the corridor, a seven-lane highway with no median and few sidewalks, a situation which is grossly mismatched with the heavy pedestrian traffic along and across the highway.
Most properties along the corridor are in the form of strip malls, retail businesses surrounded by large parking lots, and large apartment complexes. The largest strip malls are the 466,000-square-foot (43,300 m2) Northeast Plaza, 355,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) Plaza Fiesta and the Buford Highway Farmers Market complex.
Need for Pedestrian ImprovementsEdit
On July 22, 2010 PBS's Need to Know program portrayed the corridor as an example of a high-pedestrian area in suburban America that fails to meet increased demand for walkability due to changing demographics.[15] The program noted that in the previous ten years, 30 people had died and an additional 250 were injured while trying to cross Buford Highway, a rate three times higher than any other road in Georgia. Despite this, there are no plans to improve pedestrian safety in the unincorporated area of the corridor.
These deaths have led some cities along Buford Highway to consider development plans with significant pedestrian improvements. For example, the City of Brookhaven's Buford Highway Improvement Plan and Economic Development Strategy contemplates adding mid-block crossings, street trees and buffer plantings, pedestrian-scale lighting and other improvements.[16]
In 2017 the City of Brookhaven announced that the highway in their city would be improved by reducing the number of traffic lanes, adding a greenway and island.[17]
The city of Chamblee, in which part of the Buford Highway community is located, is sometimes referred to as "Chambodia" due to its high East Asian population and the concentration of East Asian restaurants along Buford Highway in Chamblee. A chapter of Tom Wolfe's novel A Man in Full is titled "Chambodia".[19][20]
ReferencesEdit
Walcott, Susan M. (2002). (PDF). Journal of Cultural Geography. University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 20: 51–75. doi:10.1080/08873630209478281. S2CID 145684285. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 23, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
^. Archived from the original on May 22, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
buford, highway, this, article, about, community, along, georgia, state, route, information, about, road, itself, georgia, state, route, city, gwinnett, hall, counties, buford, georgia, also, corridor, dekalb, international, corridor, 1990, 2000, dekalb, count. This article is about the community along Georgia State Route 13 Buford Highway For information about the road itself see Georgia State Route 13 For the city in Gwinnett and Hall Counties see Buford Georgia Buford Highway also Buford Highway Corridor a k a the DeKalb International Corridor 4 5 and in the 1990 2000 s as the DeKalb County International Village district 6 is a community northeast of the city of Atlanta celebrated for its ethnic diversity and spanning multiple counties including Fulton DeKalb and Gwinnett counties in the U S state of Georgia The area generally spans along and on either side of a stretch of Georgia State Route 13 SR 13 in DeKalb County It begins just north of Midtown Atlanta continues northeast through the towns of Brookhaven Chamblee Doraville and Norcross The name of the corridor originates from the name of the highway which connects to the city of Buford Creative Loafing s Atlanta edition named Buford Highway Atlanta s best neighborhood for diversity in their March 2012 Neighborhood Guide 7 The population exceeds 50 000 8 Buford Highway Corridor community Location in DeKalb County and the state of GeorgiaChambleeLocation in Metro AtlantaCoordinates 33 53 15 N 84 18 19 W 33 88750 N 84 30528 W 33 88750 84 30528CountryUnited StatesStateGeorgiaCountyFulton DeKalb and GwinnettArea Total3 1 sq mi 8 1 km2 Land3 1 sq mi 8 1 km2 Water0 sq mi 0 km2 Elevation1 020 ft 311 m Population 2012 1 Total15 790 Density5 100 sq mi 1 900 km2 Time zoneUTC 5 Eastern EST Summer DST UTC 4 EDT ZIP codes30341 30366Area code770FIPS code13 15172 2 GNIS feature ID0331371 3 Contents 1 Community 2 History 3 Streetscape 4 Need for Pedestrian Improvements 5 Public transportation 6 Buford Highway in popular culture 7 ReferencesCommunity EditBuford Highway is an ethnically diverse linear community made up of apartment complexes suburban neighborhoods and shopping centers Similar to other sun belt cities immigrants who relocated to Atlanta in the 20th and 21st centuries went straight to the suburbs where residential and commercial real estate was affordable and where many second generation immigrant communities were already established Along Buford Highway there are few wholly distinct ethnic areas The more than 1 000 immigrant owned businesses are owned by and patronized by a wide variety of ethnic groups 9 10 notably Korean Mexican Chinese and Vietnamese and also Indian Bangladeshi Central American Somali and Ethiopian The DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce calls the area the International Corridor 11 nbsp The interior of the Buford Highway Farmer s MarketThe Buford Highway community is home to one of the highest concentration of foreign born residents in the country notably Mexican Central American Chinese Korean and Vietnamese The area attracted many Latino workers during the construction boom that preceded the 1996 Olympic Games Asian business owners were attracted to the stretch of highway by cheap leases and reliable traffic flow 12 In 2017 the man who came up with the idea for the BeltLine ring of trails around Atlanta Ryan Gravel announced that he would turn his attention to Buford Highway His new non profit named Generator would partner with another non profit We Love BuHi to find ways to celebrate the diversity of the community and preserve its culture with the aim of coming with realistic civic proposals around issues such as gentrification transit and affordability 13 History EditBuford Highway originated as a non descript state roadway connecting Atlanta and points northeast including the then railroad towns of Chamblee and Doraville as well as points farther north The towns of Doraville Chamblee and Norcross had long been home to a blue collar largely white lower middle class population The highway was characterized by strip mall development and apartment complexes sprouted up in the 1960s and 1970s 9 In 1976 the first ethnic restaurant opened the Havana Sandwich Shop In the 1980s immigrants settled in the area due to affordable housing available public transportation and proximity to construction jobs in growing Gwinnett County 14 The area attracted many Latino workers during the construction boom that preceded the 1996 Olympic Games Asian business owners were attracted to the stretch of highway by cheap leases and reliable traffic flow 12 During the 1996 Olympics Chamblee embraced the growing international character of Buford Highway while more conservative Doraville resisted it As the Southern Foodways Alliance reported Why would we want to attract more immigrants when we got all we want asked Doraville mayor Lamar Lang to the press That s just not our way of life here agreed the city council We re basically Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians 14 Streetscape Edit nbsp Mercado del Pueblo Hispanic supermarket at Northeast Plaza nbsp Market in Plaza FiestaBuford Highway is in most places in the corridor a seven lane highway with no median and few sidewalks a situation which is grossly mismatched with the heavy pedestrian traffic along and across the highway Most properties along the corridor are in the form of strip malls retail businesses surrounded by large parking lots and large apartment complexes The largest strip malls are the 466 000 square foot 43 300 m2 Northeast Plaza 355 000 square foot 33 000 m2 Plaza Fiesta and the Buford Highway Farmers Market complex Need for Pedestrian Improvements EditOn July 22 2010 PBS s Need to Know program portrayed the corridor as an example of a high pedestrian area in suburban America that fails to meet increased demand for walkability due to changing demographics 15 The program noted that in the previous ten years 30 people had died and an additional 250 were injured while trying to cross Buford Highway a rate three times higher than any other road in Georgia Despite this there are no plans to improve pedestrian safety in the unincorporated area of the corridor These deaths have led some cities along Buford Highway to consider development plans with significant pedestrian improvements For example the City of Brookhaven s Buford Highway Improvement Plan and Economic Development Strategy contemplates adding mid block crossings street trees and buffer plantings pedestrian scale lighting and other improvements 16 In 2017 the City of Brookhaven announced that the highway in their city would be improved by reducing the number of traffic lanes adding a greenway and island 17 Public transportation EditBuford Highway is served by MARTA bus route 39 Lindbergh Center to Doraville as well as privately run minibuses 18 Also the Doraville MARTA metro rail station is a block away from Buford Highway Buford Highway in popular culture EditThe city of Chamblee in which part of the Buford Highway community is located is sometimes referred to as Chambodia due to its high East Asian population and the concentration of East Asian restaurants along Buford Highway in Chamblee A chapter of Tom Wolfe s novel A Man in Full is titled Chambodia 19 20 References EditWalcott Susan M 2002 Overlapping Ethnicities and Negotiated Space Atlanta s Buford Highway PDF Journal of Cultural Geography University of North Carolina at Greensboro 20 51 75 doi 10 1080 08873630209478281 S2CID 145684285 Archived from the original PDF on March 23 2012 Retrieved September 9 2011 Chamblee City QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau Archived from the original on May 22 2013 Retrieved April 28 2014 U S Census website United States Census Bureau Retrieved January 31 2008 US Board on Geographic Names United States Geological Survey October 25 2007 Retrieved January 31 2008 Discover DeKalb Discover Chamblee Archived from the original on February 21 2017 Retrieved April 28 2017 Discover DeKalb Discover Doraville Archived from the original on December 24 2016 Retrieved April 28 2017 Retail condos snapped up in International Village 1998 09 07 Atlanta Business Chronicle Archived from the original on September 25 2000 Buford Highway Creative Loafing March 29 2012 Retrieved May 30 2017 Buford Highway Corridor Cultures for Health Emory University a b What Is Buford Highway Buford Highway Project Archived from the original on July 8 2011 Retrieved June 28 2011 Buford Highway PDF Creative Loafing Ultimate Neighborhood Guide Atlanta Georgia Creative Loafing Atlanta 39 48 March 31 April 6 2011 Visitor Information DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce Archived from the original on May 25 2009 Retrieved June 28 2011 a b Moreno Gonzales John March 10 2009 Immigrants along Buford Highway face mixed signals The Atlanta Journal Constitution Associated Press Retrieved March 10 2009 BeltLine founder turns focus to Buford Highway August 18 2017 a b City Guide Atlanta Buford Highway PDF Southern Foodways Alliance Archived from the original PDF on July 16 2011 Retrieved June 28 2011 Larson John Correspondent Moore Fae Producer July 22 2010 Dangerous Crossing PBS Retrieved July 29 2010 See http www brookhavenga gov home showdocument id 1327 City plans to add linear park redevelop parts of Buford Highway Atlanta Business Chronicle Archived from the original on June 20 2017 Response to recent conversation Response to Recent Conversation Atlanta Journal Constitution August 26 2013 washingtonpost com Style Live Travel www washingtonpost com Search Creative Loafing Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Buford Highway amp oldid 1179233027, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
