Buford Highway
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Buford Highway (also Buford Highway Corridor), a.k.a. the DeKalb International Corridor, and in the 1990-2000's as the
DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johan DeKalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama * DeKalb County, Georgia * DeKalb County, Illinois * DeKalb County, Indiana * DeKalb County, Missouri ...
International Village district, is a community northeast of the city of
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, celebrated for its
ethnic diversity The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
and spanning multiple counties including
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, DeKalb, and
Gwinnett Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the second-most populous county in Georgia (after Fulton ...
counties in the U.S. state of
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
. The area generally spans along and on either side of a stretch of
Georgia State Route 13 State Route 13 (SR 13) is a state highway in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia, that travels through portions of Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Hall counties. It begins at West Peachtree Street and Spring Street ( US ...
(SR 13) in DeKalb County. It begins just north of
Midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business ...
, continues northeast through the towns of Brookhaven,
Chamblee Chamblee ( ) is a city in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta. The population was 30,164 as of the 2020 census. History The area that would later become Chamblee was originally dairy farms. During the late ninet ...
,
Doraville Doraville is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,623. History Doraville was incorporated by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, approved December 15, 18 ...
, and Norcross. The name of the corridor originates from the name of the highway which connects to the city of
Buford Buford may refer to: Places United States *Buford, Arkansas *Buford, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Buford, Georgia *Buford Highway corridor, in Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties in Georgia * Buford, North Dakota *Buford, Ohio *Bufo ...
.
Creative Loafing Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of ...
's Atlanta edition named Buford Highway Atlanta's "best neighborhood for diversity" in their March 2012 Neighborhood Guide. The population exceeds 50,000.


Community

Buford Highway is an ethnically diverse, linear community made up of apartment complexes, suburban neighborhoods and shopping centers. Similar to other
sun belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...
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, 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." The Buford Highway community is home to one of the highest concentration of foreign-born residents in the country, notably Mexican, Central American,
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, Korean and Vietnamese. The area attracted many
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
workers during the construction boom that preceded the
1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
. Asian business owners were attracted to the stretch of highway by cheap leases and reliable traffic flow. In 2017, the man who came up with the idea for the
BeltLine The Atlanta BeltLine (also Beltline or Belt Line) is a open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect neig ...
ring of trails around Atlanta,
Ryan Gravel The Atlanta BeltLine (also Beltline or Belt Line) is a open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect neig ...
, 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.


History

Buford Highway originated as a non-descript state roadway connecting
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
and points northeast, including the then-railroad towns of
Chamblee Chamblee ( ) is a city in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta. The population was 30,164 as of the 2020 census. History The area that would later become Chamblee was originally dairy farms. During the late ninet ...
and
Doraville Doraville is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,623. History Doraville was incorporated by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, approved December 15, 18 ...
, 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. 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. The area attracted many
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
workers during the construction boom that preceded the
1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
. Asian business owners were attracted to the stretch of highway by cheap leases and reliable traffic flow. During the 1996 Olympics, Chamblee embraced the growing international character of Buford Highway, while more conservative Doraville resisted it. As the
Southern Foodways Alliance Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) is an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, dedicated to the documentation, study and exploration of the foodways of the American South. Member-funded, it stages ...
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."


Streetscape

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 Northeast Plaza, Plaza Fiesta and th
Buford Highway Farmers Market
complex.


Need for Pedestrian Improvements

On July 22, 2010
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
's ''
Need to Know The term "need to know", when used by government and other organizations (particularly those related to the military or espionage), describes the restriction of data which is considered very sensitive. Under need-to-know restrictions, even if one ...
'' program portrayed the corridor as an example of a high-
pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...
area in
suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
America that fails to meet increased demand for
walkability Walkability is a term for planning concepts best understood by the mixed-use of amenities in high-density neighborhoods where people can access said amenities by foot. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport ...
due to changing demographics. 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. 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.


Public transportation

Buford Highway is served by
MARTA Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) :István Márta composer * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an ...
bus route 39 ( Lindbergh Center to Doraville) as well as privately run minibuses. Also, the Doraville MARTA metro rail station is a block away from Buford Highway.


Buford Highway in popular culture

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 Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
's novel ''
A Man in Full ''A Man in Full'' is the second novel by Tom Wolfe, published on November 12, 1998, by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. It is set primarily in Atlanta, with a significant portion of the story also transpiring in the East Bay region of the San Francisco B ...
'' is titled "Chambodia".


References

* {{American Koreatowns Asian-American culture in Georgia (U.S. state) Culture of Atlanta Koreatowns in the United States Ethnic enclaves in the United States Neighborhoods in DeKalb County, Georgia Transportation in Brookhaven, Georgia Chamblee, Georgia Doraville, Georgia Little Indias Little Saigons U.S. Route 23