City construction crews built roadblocks on Peyton and Harlan Roads to keep white communities South of Atlanta separate from the Black communities to the West. Dubbed by the press the “Atlanta Wall”, this explicit form of segregation drew national attention. As black families continued to suburbanize, white residents became more alarmed. Plans were proposed to construct a highway to replace the segregating roadblocks but construction never began. Instead, street paving in black neighborhoods stopped a hundred yards away from the white neighborhood’s boundary.

The Southwest Citizens Association became a continuation of the Mozley Park Home Owners’ Protective Association, encompassing a larger geographic area with more funding sources. In collaboration with the mayor, they got the city to build a six-lane highway to create a “buffer zone” between black and white neighborhoods in the West End (Kruse, 73). Along the highway lands currently zoned for residential property would be converted into warehouses. The highway proposition that once failed would finally come to fruition. While the specific highway was not constructed when bonds couldn't be secured, the city ensured Interstate 20 would be built through the proposed area.