With about 300,000 people expected to visit Atlanta for the city's eight World Cup matches, you'll want to avoid the accompanying traffic in and around Downtown over the next month.

Why it matters: Dodging Atlanta traffic is stressful on a normal day, and the World Cup will likely put even more strain on the region's congested roads.

Driving the news: Georgia Commute Options has a World Cup resource guide that will help you plan your commute on match days.

• Managed by the Atlanta Regional Commission, Georgia Commute Options has rolled out projected traffic patterns that will help you decide if you should leave work (or home) earlier or later, take MARTA or work remotely.

How it works: Johann Weber, director of Georgia Commute Options, told Axios the organization gathered state Department of Transportation data that detailed how fast vehicles typically move on days with no major events.

• They compared traffic volume on those days to when the city hosts large events such as the 2024 Copa América opening match, the Super Bowl in 2019, Dragon Con and last year's sold-out Beyoncé concerts.
• That information resulted in their estimates for the best times to travel to Downtown and when you should avoid the area.

What they're saying: Weber said they are advising Downtown-based employers who require in-office attendance on a match day to reconsider.

• "We're telling folks it'll be lively, it'll be a celebration Downtown," Weber told Axios. "You will notice it if you are nearby, but...the data doesn't suggest at this point that it's going to be gridlock and this big dramatic, regional challenge."

How to get around: If you want to avoid unnecessary headaches, leave your vehicle at home and use MARTA, which plans to run rail service every five minutes until 10:30pm on match days, Weber said.

• If you're planning to check out the Fan Festival, you can also use MARTA or a ride-share service to avoid expensive parking.

What we're watching: If recent violence, including the stabbing death of 66-year-old Margaret Swan, will make some hesitate before boarding a MARTA train.

• The agency's officers have started working six-day-a-week shifts and will continue that schedule until the World Cup ends, according to the AJC.

Tell a friend

Teens seeking to socialize together in public this summer are discovering that their presence is often treated as a problem.

Why it matters: The decline of malls, cheap hangout spots and welcoming public spaces has left teenagers with few places to gather without money or access to a car, urban designers and youth researchers say.

State of play: With few options, teens have organized large gatherings in cities nationwide, which local officials have dubbed "teen takeovers."

• Some cities have responded with curfews aimed at keeping minors from gathering in public, although research shows they aren't effective. Others enforce "no unaccompanied minors" policies, which teen advocates say punish all young people for the actions of a few.

Zoom in: Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in April the city would invest $50,000 to help create a fun "third space" other than home and school where young people can gather safely.

• The city also extended hours of operation for recreation center and expanded youth programming.
• Dickens' announcement came days after a shooting at Piedmont Park killed 16-year-old Tianah Robinson and wounded another teenager.
• Dickens' proposed fiscal year 2027 budget also calls for continued funding for the city's Summer Youth Employment Program, Midnight Basketball efforts and At-Promise Centers.

Context: Many public spaces were not designed for teens — and some were built to discourage them.

• Patsy Eubanks Owens, a landscape architecture expert, tells Axios that when she began studying adolescents outdoors in the mid-1980s, little research existed. So she began collecting it herself by surveying design professionals.
• "The response was overwhelming," she says. "It was, 'actually, I've been asked to design them out of places. It's a problem that's been going on for a long time."

Vague anti-loitering laws can also give police an "open invitation" to "investigate teenagers for being teenagers," says Jeffrey Butts, a criminal justice professor.

Go deeper

Kristal and Phoenix 3000 recently got away from the big city and cleared their heads at this beautiful refuge north of Atlanta.

Do you know where they were (hint: you can renew your tags and pay your property taxes next door)? Hit reply and tell us!

😢 The daughter of Margaret Swan, the 66-year-old woman who was fatally stabbed at the Oakland City MARTA station, said officers should conduct more patrols on trains. (WSB)

⚾ The University of Georgia baseball team is going to the NCAA Men's College World Series for the first time in nearly two decades. (11 Alive)

⚖️ Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were pardoned by President Trump, are suing their former attorney for allegedly mishandling their criminal defense against tax evasion and bank fraud charges. (AJC)

🐢 The Georgia Department of Natural Resource needs public input on its plan to update the state-protected species list for the first time in two decades. (WABE)