الوصف
The new West Howard lane striping is a complete failure. Cars turning right off any side street cannot make the turn without crossing the yellow lines into oncoming traffic as the lanes are too narrow and too close to the houses.
Cars are still speeding on West Howard but are now doing so in narrower lanes closer to the homes and walking pedestrians. Deliveries to all homes completely stop all eastbound traffic as there is nowhere for trucks to pull over in front of houses.
The Path side next to the train tracks is not used by pedestrians as much as the sidewalk on the north side since all the homes and businesses except Valero are on the north side of the street.
This project has made West Howard more dangerous for cars, pedestrians, cyclists and homeowners. The extra space needs to be on the North side where the homes are located, not next to the Path which already provides for safe walking and cycling.
135 تعليقs
Decatur Public Works - M Hirose (مستخدم مسجل)
مغلق Decatur Public Works-S Smith (مستخدم مسجل)
فتح Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
I will be delivering flyers to all neighbors on West Howard and all adjoining side streets to organize a community action to demand the street is reconfigured with the lanes moved to the south side of West Howard. We will demand access to all impact studies performed prior to the project approval.
If anyone would like to help me organize this please email me at cmgagnon@gmail.com
Decatur Public Works-S Smith (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
I agree with the suggestions made in this post. Right turns are now impossible without turning into oncoming traffic. At Commerce, MARTA and school busses making the right turn from Commerce onto W Howard now require cars waiting to turn left onto Commerce to back up behind the white stop line in order for the turn to be made. The other alternative is for the busses to "pop the curb" where pedestrians are potentially waiting to cross. Did the planners of this project not think about the MARTA route on W Howard or the numerous school bus routes that need to safely make this turn?
To the other point made in this post, walking on the north side of the street is even more treacherous than it was before. 35+ mph traffic in a very narrow, single lane with minimal or no buffer (the plans show just 3 feet) between the traffic lane and the sidewalk is harrowing for a pedestrian. But it was decided that the sidewalk/PATH trail on the south side of the street gets a 14-18 foot buffer between it and vehicular traffic lanes. Especially before and after school, the north sidewalk is filled with pedestrians - equal weight needs to be given to both sides of the street. Simple solution - put the new bike lanes on the north side of the street to buffer the existing sidewalk. The wide PATH trail remains for pedestrian and bicycle traffic on the south side of the street.
Also, why was the street narrowed so significantly without a reduction in speed limit, which is currently 35 mph? Since city police can't write tickets for less than 11 mph over the limit, drivers are still going 45 mph without any possible consequence (except during school zone hours). For as much lip service as Decatur pays to being pedestrian and bicycle friendly, this project has really failed to improve conditions for anyone.
Another problem experienced on the reconfigured street is in front of the Friends Meeting building where the signs note No Parking Except Sunday on the street. This was ok when there were multiple lanes of traffic in both directions - one lane would be used for parking on Sundays and the other could be used for travel. But now cars can legally park in the single travel lane and block traffic. And they do.
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Shannon Hicks (مستخدم مسجل)
Decatur Public Works - J Bell (تم التحقق رسميا)
Thanks for sharing your experiences on West Howard Avenue. We will continue monitoring pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic in this corridor. These modifications, prompted by citizen requests, were designed considering many factors, like safety for all users, and discussed in multiple public meetings during a yearlong engagement process. Feel free to take a look at posts summarizing this project on the City’s websites:
http://www.decaturga.com/home/showdocument?id=10661
and
http://www.decaturmakeover.com/status-updates/reimagine-west-howard-avenue-starts-week/
When considering input from a diverse citizen group, it is often challenging to reach a solution meeting the needs of everyone using the street. Often, brief adjustment periods are also helpful for users to become accustom to changing traffic patterns. Transformation into a two lane configuration, like many other streets in Decatur, is no exception. Evaluating the effectiveness of this project and how it fits with plans for future work in the area, like the Atlanta Avenue RR Xing improvements, is definitely on our radar.
Many City staff were involved with different aspects of this project. Some helpful contacts are:
Courtney Frisch, Project Manager, Courtney.Frisch@decaturga.com
Jennings Bell, Project Civil Engineer, Jennings.Bell@decaturga.com
David Junger, Public Works Director, David.Junger@decaturga.com
We appreciate your patience with the on-going implementation of the Re-Imagine Howard Avenue project.
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Thanks for your comments. To be clear I’m fine with two lanes. It’s mind boggling that anyone would approve a plan to put new bike lanes next to existing bike lanes instead of providing a buffer for the homes. You’ve effectively pushed traffic closer to the people and farther from the train tracks and empty field. I would also point out that nearly all cyclists heading West are still using the single car lane causing further chaos.
Please provide a link to the impact studies performed prior to this project being approved.
I also take issue with Decatur citing public meetings as a way out of bad decisions. I only received a note in my mailbox the week before the work started. If you can provide a flyer prior to work you can provide mailers during planning. Your process is fundamentally broken and has made our street far more dangerous.
Please also provide a date and time for the next meeting you have actually scheduled to address this dangerous change to the street. The residents will not accept “we will continue to monitor this” as an acceptable action item.
Chris Gagnon
325 West Howard Avenue
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
@J Bell: I completed an online survey about the W Howard project after reviewing a PDF of the plans and expressed concerns at that time about the project pushing all the vehicular traffic to the north side of the street where the sidewalk already has minimal to no buffer from traffic. But based on the PDF you provided, it looks like Decatur only considered input from Chalkboard Voting of PATH Trail users (which is not inclusive of drivers or those that walk along the north sidewalk) along with In Person surveys for a total of just 10 hours over 6 days. And while I frequent the in person survey locations, I would definitely shrug off an attempt to survey my views when I'm on my commute to work via MARTA at E Lake Station. Were the online surveys considered? And based on the PDF you provided, it seems that the road shouldn't be narrowed at all... it is clear that those surveyed just want Food Trucks, Planter Boxes, and a Community Garden (which we actually used to have on W Howard until the High School "paved paradise and put up a parking lot"...)
I am beginning to realize that this project isn't really about making W Howard safer at all. It's about buffering the PATH trail and making a park out of the railroad right of way. When you look at it that way, then you can see why certain decisions were made on this project. To that end, the main part of W Howard has been shoved as far to the north side as possible, despite the danger to pedestrians on the north sidewalk and the fact that busses can't make right turns.
Lucy (مستخدم مسجل)
I overall like the change, but some of the criticisms are legitimate. The north shoulder of the road is far too narrow. The southern shoulder is necessary only in instances when someone would need to park their yacht. It honestly looks like a "measure once, let's paint, whoops, whatever" job. I live on W Howard, I walk everywhere, but even I can tell that the worthless 5"-wide north shoulder was not thought out whatsoever.
As far as making a right onto W Howard from side streets, it absolutely can be done with average vehicles. But buses will definitely struggle to do so. The line for the left turn lane at W Howard/Commerce needs to be moved back significantly and the lanes on W Howard all need to be shifted south a bit to make all of this work.
John (مستخدم مسجل)
Perhaps adding a continuous turn lane in the center might help control speed, and not cripple traffic during peak times.
Holly (مستخدم مسجل)
It strikes me that moving the buffer from the south side of the street to the north would solve a lot of the complaints that people have about the new pattern. It would
- allow buses to turn onto W Howard more easily
- allow cars to get out of their driveways more safely
- allow delivery trucks to make deliveries and garbage collection to happen without blocking traffic
- create a buffer between cars and pedestrians on the sidewalk
I have also found that, with how far back the left hand turn lane from W Howard to Commerce is, cars are cutting the corner more, which prevents cars and buses from turning right from Commerce onto W Howard (both with and against the light), thus backing up traffic down Commerce. Again, if the buffer was moved to the north side, buses and cars could make that turn more easily and the left turn lane could be moved up, preventing cutting the corner.
I do have one question about one of the new crosswalks - the one at Atlanta Avenue: is that supposed to be treated as a crosswalk for the intersection (Atlanta Ave) or is it supposed to be treated as/meant to be a mid-block crosswalk? It’s confusing because it starts in the middle of the block on the north side but ends at the light on the south side.
In terms of communications to those impacted: I live in Decatur and use W Howard daily to commute downtown. While I saw announcements regularly asking for input on the new plan, I will admit that I did not participate. I wonder if could Decatur put up signs along W Howard announcing public meetings if there are going to be any additional? Atlanta did that along DeKalb Ave when deciding on the new traffic patterns for that part of the road. That allows those who use the route regularly to participate but who may not live within Decatur. Forgive me if this happened during the first phase, but I don’t remember seeing them.
In addition, could you just make the whole road a school zone? The 50 feet between the end of one and the beginning of the next has never made any sense to me.
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Also for safety the pothole should have been fixed before It was painted.
Tonio (مستخدم مسجل)
مغلق Bennett Foster (مستخدم مسجل)
فتح Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Bennett Foster (مستخدم مسجل)
مغلق c gallo (مستخدم مسجل)
فتح Shannon Hicks (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
I value everyone’s opinion and as a resident of West Howard I actually do support traffic calming, beautification and the other goals of this project.
I stand at Patillo and West Howard every day with my 9 Year old waiting for the bus at 6:30 AM and watch cars rip around Commerce onto West Howard like it’s the Indy 500. While I can get occasional police patrols to happen this issue of serious speeding has not been resolved due to lane narrowing.
Since the restripe I’ve watched delivery trucks pull onto the sidewalk to make deliveries, I’ve watched angry drivers pass each other across the yellow lines and I’ve seen countless cars turn right from side streets and driveways into oncoming traffic. This happens in front of my house all day every day. A head-on collision at speed will end up in one of our yards and given the high volume of walkers (mostly our children) this could be tragic.
This safety issue is my primary concern and why I’m organizing the residents to call for immediate action. Nobody wants a fatality due to poor city planning. I agree that the past isn’t important here. A mistake was made, let’s address it and move forward. Inaction is not going to work here Decatur.
Chris Gagnon
325 West Howard Avenue
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Fitzcookie (مستخدم مسجل)
Fitzcookie (مستخدم مسجل)
Matt (مستخدم مسجل)
Charles (مستخدم مسجل)
Thank you for considering this.
I regularly bike from the Thinking Man to the East Lake Marta station. There is no room to bike westbound on the street (north side) and the sidewalk is poor and not for bikes. It used to be possible to do this (at least there was an extra lane), now it is impossible without biking on the sidewalk or crossing twice in 1/4 mile. Crossing W. Howard only to re-cross it to access MARTA 1/4 mile later is obviously difficult and invites the hazards of crossing W. Howard when I don't have to.
Please restripe to allow flexible room on both north and south sides of W. Howard. An actual bike lane with proper markings would be wonderful where there is space. (Riding along this portion of the PATH is nice during rush hour, but durning non-rush, the smooth asphalt is MUCH preferable to the bumpy/seamed concrete on the PATH. The PATH should have been asphalt, but that ship has sailed.) This undesignated part of the street is confusing to drivers and cyclists and not really safe.
Shannon Hicks (مستخدم مسجل)
Tonio (مستخدم مسجل)
Tonio (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
Marcel Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
It doesn’t take much effort to observe these issues. The resolution is easy: scoot the lanes to the center of the road. This leaves room to still put your new planter pots and benches in the street on the South side (right in front of the existing benches that are in the existing grass if you want). I realize budgeting is a problem as the stripe work has been done; however this is an issue of public safety so it can’t simply be shrugged off. A mistake was made. Own it and fix it.
Has the city coordinated with Decatur PD to actually create a campaign to slow down cars on West Howard or was the intent always to use school buses jumping curbs into speeding oncoming traffic, new empty benches and planters, horrified children and cyclists to act as human shields? When the city chose the name Reimagine West Howard was everyone watching Mad Max?
Seriously, @J Bell will you please provide information on the next public hearing or any action being taken by the city around these massive safety issues? Love it or hate it this change is dangerous and it needs your attention.
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Dbarrett (مستخدم مسجل)
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Marcel Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Shannon Hicks (مستخدم مسجل)
Kayla Pruett (مستخدم مسجل)
And while there are "improvements" going on, how about a trash can next to the bench on the tracks side of W. Howard? Lots of garbage accumulates between the Valero and that bench (and beyond).
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Lucy (مستخدم مسجل)
Is City of Decatur even looking at this anymore? Also, I'll add that I live on W Howard between Greenwood and Patillo and I sure didn't ever get any flyer about this before it happened. I walk everywhere and appreciate the effort, but goodness, shift the lanes southward. We're not asking to turn water into wine here.
I get it, City, it's kind of embarrassing to mess up after a lot of time and effort, but ignoring it doesn't make it go away.
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
I guarantee this post is monitored even though we are receiving total radio silence from the city. This post and the other discussions on all the other social media platforms seem to tell the same story. The residents want traffic calming and are generally open to two lanes. The current configuration is a failure and has created danger for us all. Move the lanes to the center of the road providing safe biking and walking in both directions. Increase traffic enforcement. I’ve seen no more police presence than before the restripe. Every day I personally witness increasing road rage with people intentionally crossing into oncoming traffic; racing forward to reach turn lanes that are already packed too tightly.
West Howard is used as a thoroughfare by folks who don’t live here to reach the other side of Decatur. We can’t expect commuter traffic to respect our homes; it’s just not realistic. Road configuration and traffic enforcement provides us with this safety net and both are failing at present.
This road is far more dangerous now and the city is quickly reaching a level of gross negligence by simply ignoring the reports. We all screw up sometimes Decatur. Stop hiding from the problem. Own it. Fix it.
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Fitzcookie (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
@Jeremy - J Bell from Decatur provided some info about the community engagement process for this project.
http://www.decaturga.com/home/showdocument?id=10661
Based on that document, it appears that Decatur provided "Chalkboard Voting" by leaving 3 chalkboards out along the road 24 hours a day for two weeks. Additionally, they stationed surveyors out at locations for 5 two hour periods. From this, it was determined that "Food Truck Park," "Planter Boxes," and "Community Garden" is what people wanted along the W Howard Corridor. "Safer crossings" and "Slow down traffic" weren't in the top 18 of the voting. However, they were called out as "more ideas." From this, it appears Decatur decided to restripe the road.
I don't recall being informed of any public meetings, but I do recall participating in an online survey where I expressed concerns about stacking traffic on the North side of the road and placing bike lanes right beside a bike path. Those survey results don't appear to be anywhere that I can find. I have no problem with shrinking down the road - I walk it all the time - but the implementation was done so poorly that it has created a lot of problems.
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
So I missed the in person meetings, therefore my opinion doesn't matter? That isn't the way government is supposed to work. I was aware of the project. I did fill out a City of Decatur online survey and expressed my opinion about the project. That opinion included the exact concerns a large number of people have expressed here and on Nextdoor. Generally, I'm concerned that those survey results didn't seem to go anywhere or get acknowledged by Decatur. I can't find the results of the survey anywhere.
I'm not a traffic planning expert, but I do have common sense. And common sense tells me that placing a narrowed, highly trafficked vehicle lane right on top (a 3' buffer per the plans) of a pedestrian sidewalk which is heavily utilized is not the safest configuration. The North sidewalk is most heavily utilized before and after school hours with students - much higher traffic than the South PATH trail during those times.
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
At one point (a number of years ago) the speed limit on W Howard was 30mph. Decatur then raised it to 35mph. Was this because 30mph was unenforceable? I just googled and found this:
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2010/03/16/west-howard-avenue-speed-limit-going-back-up-sorta/
An interesting quote:
"The move was made with the express intent that the city would now begin strongly enforcing the speed limit in the West Howard corridor."
Obviously, that never happened.
With the new road diet configuration, 35mph is way too fast for conditions, even when there's no traffic. When I drive it, 25-30mph "feels" safe in the car, much to the chagrin of whoever is tailgating me because I'm not going 10 over the limit. I hope Decatur puts a plan in the works to officially lower the enforceable speed limit.
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
This is what I was thinking of earlier - the ability to write tickets for 1mph over as opposed to 10mph
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
Decatur Public Works - C Frisch (مستخدم مسجل)
Thanks to all for the healthy debate regarding the Reimagine West Howard Avenue project. This project started at the request of numerous residents who were concerned over vehicular speeds along the corridor and the difficulty for pedestrians, specifically Safe Routes to School students, to cross four lanes of speeding traffic. The City worked with a transportation design and engineering firm to develop ways to improve the bicyclist and pedestrian safety as well as slow traffic along the West Howard Avenue corridor.
Numerous community meetings were held with city residents at the Friend’s Meeting facility before recommending a final plan for construction before the City Commission. It was our intent to develop a semi-permanent solution knowing that we were going to be working on a re-design of the intersection of Atlanta Avenue / Howard Avenue / College Avenue. The most important goal of the plan is to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians throughout the corridor.
Public Works staff have spent many hours, during peak and non-peak hours, observing and monitoring the bike, pedestrian and vehicular traffic since the road diet and lane shift was implemented. The road diet has slowed traffic and pedestrians seem able to more safety cross West Howard Avenue at three midblock locations.
In reading through the thread, there seem to be a variety of concerns regarding the implementation of the project:
North side buffer – The buffer was added at the request of many residents from the first public meeting. The buffer now provides a safer feel to pedestrians walking along the northern sidewalk. The buffer was not widened so as to not give cyclists the impression this buffer would be a bicycle lane. Through the planning process it was determined that the safest location for cyclists would be on the existing Stone Mountain Path as each driveway along the northern side is its own vehicle/bicycle conflict point.
Adair leg of the Atlanta Avenue intersection – We recognize that driving behavior does not follow the current configuration of the right turn lane. We have reached out to the striping contractor for modifications to be made to the right turn lane. Whatever modifications are made must not impact the safety of pedestrians in the Adair Street crosswalk as the most important goal of the plan is to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety throughout the corridor.
Speed Limit – At this time the speed limit is posted at 35 mph. Once the project is complete, a speed and volume study will be conducted to determine the new 85th percentile of speeds. Any speed limit reduction must be approved by GDOT and validated by a speed study. As presented in the City Speed Limit Study and Proposal, the goal is to reduce the posted speed to an enforceable 30 mph.
Public Notification – The City posts notifications of community meetings on the City website and its social media channels. Yard signs are also posted along corridors or in study areas for transportation projects and community meetings. For up to date information regarding transportation projects please subscribe to The Decatur Minute Blog at http://thedecaturminute.com/ and the Decatur Makeover webpage at http://www.decaturmakeover.com/.
City staff is continuing to evaluate the road diet and will adjust if necessary to improve traffic management through the corridor.
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Hello DecaturPM,
Thanks for re-engaging on this topic thread. Please provide a link to all of the impact studies performed prior to the work and to the monitoring by city employees you refer to that has occurred post work. The people on this thread live here. We walk, cycle and drive this stretch of road every day at all hours. We’d like to know who, where and when observers were present and we’d like to see all notes related to their observations. As this is a city project all of this should be readily available. Your results do not match our daily experiences.
Please also provide the date and time of the next public meeting scheduled to address this project, specifically safety issues such as cars and school buses that cannot turn right into the narrow lanes of West Howard, the scarce placement of the handful of ‘buffer zones’ on the North side, delivery trucks that now either park on the North sidewalk or stop all Westbound traffic and the now daily occurrences of cars intentionally crossing yellow lines to race around the chaos.
While some residents may be interested in the history of this project the majority are looking for information on the future of the project. And while we appreciate information on how Decatur generally posts public meetings we’d rather know exactly when the next meeting is so we can discuss this in person.
Thanks again for your response.
Fitzcookie (مستخدم مسجل)
Tonio (مستخدم مسجل)
Diane Loupe (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Charles (مستخدم مسجل)
I would like to echo the comments wondering if there could be an adjustment to allow for a wider gap between the northern sidewalk and the northern most lane. Moving the traffic away from the sidewalk and allowing a larger gap for bicycles to share the road would both serve the stated goals of the project. As it stands now, pedestrians on that sidewalk can just about reach out and touch the cars whizzing by, and the street is even more unfriendly to bikes. Using the PATH on a bike makes sense, unless you are trying to access the Eastlake MARTA station from anywhere north of the tracks, which now requires crossing W Howard twice.
Please do consider adjusting the lanes. Keeping it narrowed is fine, just don't route the lanes right next to the sidewalk. There is plenty of road to have nice wide buffers on both the north and south sides.
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
Victoria Ferreira (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Our comments aren’t falling on deaf ears. They are being read and ignored. What the folks running this disastrous project need to understand is we are just getting started. The community will continue to seek access to records and impact studies (which were probably never formally or properly performed given the cavalier responses from city officials).
Decatur, you made our street less safe and now you are making it look like a cartoon nightmare. Get your heads out of the sand. We aren’t going away.
Fitzcookie (مستخدم مسجل)
Cherie Dawson (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
In my experience change only happens when we don't quit. I'm happy to spend the time and effort to carry this forward but change will only happen if I'm representing a coalition of residents, commuters and business owners.
Given the lack of serious response or communication from the city I suspect this is somebody's pet project that is being forced through with the hope that nobody pushes the issue. Somebody picked the plastic planters. Somebody picked the Miami Vice colors. Somebody is managing the budget and somebody selected the vendors executing the work. I suspect these detailed decisions weren't made by the city council and I know the residents weren't notified or given a forum to express our opinions because I live at ground zero and have been actively protesting this project from day one.
At a minimum we need to shine the light of day on this project to determine who is actually behind it. The city repeating ad nauseum that it was requested by 'a group of residents' doesn't hold water. We have the right to know who, when and how. We have a right to see all formal impact studies (spoiler alert Decatur, we already know you didn't do any). We have a right to review studies determining the city's liability for traffic accidents and lost business from the resulting traffic chaos (see spoiler alert above). We have the right to know how every decision was made at every stage and who made them.
At a minimum we will figure out who is really behind the project, who in city government decided they were in a position to make these decisions on behalf of the residents, why formal studies weren't done, why residents are being placated and ignored and why the project simply continues forward with no regard to the local residents identifying credible and serious safety issues.
If you want to help you can send me your pictures of the traffic chaos during morning and afternoon rush hours, buses and trucks attempting impossible turns on to West Howard, and reports of unsafe experiences. You can also email me your name and address to add to the list of coalition members. It's easy for the city to ignore one person. It's hard for them to ignore a majority. I'm pulling together a site for people to sign-up for the coalition but for now you can send info to me at cmgagnon@gmail.com
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
Gale Tarnopolski (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy, we can post here until we’re all blue in the face but it’s the city’s responsibility to execute impact studies based on actual data. This hasn’t been done and no amount of rhetoric will change this fact.
Regardless of anyone’s individual opinion of the project it’s clear there is enough dissatisfaction to warrant a public forum. I’m happy to meet with officials but it will only be to gather information and a precursor to demanding a public forum.
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Neeli (مستخدم مسجل)
Neeli (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
It’s clear from the city’s lack of response to questions about basic studies that they didn’t complete any. I don’t think there’s a conspiracy to screw up our roads. I think we have people in positions who are not completing the diligence necessary to assure a safe infrastructure. It’s amateur hour in the city planner’s office and the actual residents of this city are both picking up the tab and living with the resulting chaos.
Chalkboard surveys and unofficial ‘checks’ to assure that things are better now makes it sound like our city is being run by volunteers instead of full-time employees.
Good luck trying to manage this through proper channels. What we need is a wholesale removal of every city employee responsible for the planning, execution and inept post-project response related to this dangerous, ugly, unwanted disaster.
Jennifer Hall (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Decatur Public Works - J Bell (تم التحقق رسميا)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Monty (مستخدم مسجل)
I have to agree that the whole “planter” situation looks stupid and ill conceived.. The reflectors look cheap, the planters look cheap, the stick trees are dead.
Is this really a reflection of City of Decatur?
Really - just take it all away and go back to two lanes. We NEED two lanes. Morning and evening commutes are horrible and the traffic has not “calmed” one bit.
Big waste of our tax dollars.
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
To Monty's point about the right lane ending at/around E Lake MARTA, there needs to be warning. GDOT standards require it. See here, look in Section 5: http://www.dot.ga.gov/PartnerSmart/DesignManuals/smguide/GDOT_Signing_and_Marking_Guide_printerfriendly.pdf
There should be three signs leading up to the right lane ending:
W20-5AX (1500 FT) – Right/left lane ends in 1,500 feet
W9-1X – Right/left lane ends
W4-2X – Graphical right/left lane ends
I've done your work for you, Decatur. Please install these signs.
I'm not sure where the liability lies should an accident occur in this situation where the signage is missing and/or non-standard. Decatur might have liability, which means our tax dollars are at risk.
Decatur Public Works - C Frisch (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jeremy (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Becca (مستخدم مسجل)
L. Jackson (مستخدم مسجل)
Jon (مستخدم مسجل)
Holly (مستخدم مسجل)
Chris Gagnon (مستخدم مسجل)
Victoria Ferreira (مستخدم مسجل)
Lucy (مستخدم مسجل)
Okay, it's been months and I'm confident in my first assessment of all this as a daily pedestrian from the Greenwood/W Howard area to East Lake MARTA and sometimes Decatur MARTA instead. The northern buffer between cars and sidewalks is insufficient. I don't feel safer. I almost got run over by a car while on the sidewalk at Commerce/W Howard because people are blitzing that right turn so hard they drive up on the sidewalk regularly. I also get absolutely tsunami'd on rainy days because cars are splashing up the water a couple inches away from me. This is just ridiculous.
How about this, City, if you are truly this bent on people the southern sidewalk, install a pedestrian bridge or tunnel between the north and south sidewalks East Lake MARTA station, others all around the W Howard/Atlanta/Adair Triangle of Doom, then again at the corner of Greenwood and W Howard, and finally at Commerce/W Howard. Or....just repaint the lines.
Holly (مستخدم مسجل)
@Victoria Ferreira - I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.
@DecaturPM - Whatever you think about the complaints of people regarding the planters, this is a legitimate safety issue and is currently violating GA DOT regulations. Please either have the old contractor fix it or hire a new one.
Monty (مستخدم مسجل)
Why not get rid of the planters and move the whole lane structure SOUTH and give a better margin on the north side of the street.
Also -
I seems since the restructuring of the lanes to a single lane each direction has only made drivers more hostile. Traffic is denser and the crossing at Atlanta Ave really messed up so drivers are all hyped up and pushy.
Charles (مستخدم مسجل)
Yes, Lucy. Exactly what you said. The reduction to two lanes is fine. But if the road could just be re-striped to give a buffer (bike lane width?) to the northern edge sidewalk. There still would be room to keep the planters (as unpopular as they are with some) if we don't want to get rid of perfectly good weird gem-tone plastic planters that we just bought.
So I just wanted to add one more voice in support of re-striping to make the north edge sidewalk more usable for walkers, and the westbound lane safer for everyone.
Charles (مستخدم مسجل)
One more piece of information. According to this 11Alive report citing City of Decatur numbers, the re-striping contractor cost $163,000. (Planters were $118,000.) I imagine the City has the budget to pay for another re-striping to give the north edge sidewalk a little more room. Just making that change alone would satisfy a lot of the people who have commented here.
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/decatur/driving-hazard-or-pedestrian-protection-decatur-planters-stir-passionate-debate/85-843c6ae8-1336-4966-8926-d3f562474d36