Family of man killed while crossing Peachtree plead for crosswalk

Driving the news: Sood's relatives and advocates held a press conference Wednesday to mark one year since the business owner was killed.

• According to the AJC, Sood was walking across the road on a faded crosswalk from AmericasMart to Peachtree Center when he was struck by a vehicle on Feb. 11, 2025. Sood owned a business inside AmericasMart.
• His family, Propel ATL and Atlanta Families for Safe Streets want the city to install a mid-block raised crosswalk in the vicinity of 225 Peachtree St.

What they're saying: Sood's daughter, Puja Jabbour, said her family would "give absolutely anything to go back and change the events of that day."

• "The crosswalk will not erase the hole in my heart," Jabbour said in a press release, "but if my father's death leads to even one safer crossing, even one person making it home to their family, then his life continues to carry meaning beyond my grief."

Catch up quick: Matt Westmoreland, City Council member for the Post 2 At-Large seat who attended Wednesday's press conference, told Axios the crosswalk was originally installed at that location as part of the Peachtree Shared Space program.

• The multi-phase pilot program narrowed three blocks of the thoroughfare to two lanes. It served as a test area to slow down traffic and give pedestrians more room to walk.
• Mayor Andre Dickens in March 2022 ended the program, but said the city would use the data to expand the safer streets program.
• After the initiative ended, the crosswalk wasn't removed, but was "allowed to fade," the AJC reported last year.

Zoom in: Satya Bhan, a member of the Atlanta Families for Safe Streets coalition, said it makes sense to install a raised crosswalk in "the most urban, dense core of Atlanta."

• "It is literally the most iconic corridor of Atlanta, and it is the most dangerous to cross on foot," he said.

The intrigue: Atlanta City Council members last year passed a resolution urging the installation of the crosswalk by June 30, 2025, but the project has yet to be implemented, Westmoreland told Axios.

• After Sood's death, Atlanta Department of Transportation crews resurfaced Peachtree Street, but did not install a new crosswalk in the area where he was hit.

What's next: Westmoreland told Axios he will introduce another resolution Monday to reiterate the Council's position.

• "I don't want us to lose sight [of] the fact that we had piloted the beginning stages of making Peachtree Street something completely different and that is still my goal," he said.

Go deeper: Traffic deaths outnumbered homicides last year in metro Atlanta