Pedestrian Safety Improvements
Work begins on design of Clairemont, Church Street and Commerce intersections and Church Street bicycle lanes.
Community workshop: Monday, Sept. 26, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, Decatur City Hall
As part of its capital improvements program, the City of Decatur is considering options for pedestrian safety improvements to the Clairemont Avenue-Commerce Drive and Church Street-Commerce Drive intersections and for
bicycle lane improvements on Church Street in downtown Decatur. The purpose of the work is to improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians, bicyclists and others using these facilities. The project is based on Decatur’s 2008
Community Transportation Plan and is a project in the 2010 Strategic Plan. A major goal of the Community Transportation Plan is to encourage healthy lifestyles and active living in Decatur. The plan is available online
at www.decaturga.com/communitytransportationplan. The city has retained Development Planning
and Engineering, a design firm, to help plan the project. The project will be partially funded through grants from the Georgia Department of Transportation. A community workshop to discuss plans for these improvements will be Monday, Sept. 26, 6-8 p.m., in the City Commission meeting room of Decatur City Hall, 509 N. McDonough St. We hope you can join us to learn more about this project.
I am a resident of the Willow Park condominiums, which has frontage on Church Street. I attended the community workshop last night and noticed that somebody commented “as residents of Church Street” that they did not want parking on the west side of Church Street. Please don’t conclude that no parking should go in front of the Willow Park condominiums. I don’t think anybody in the condominums minds it, as evidenced by the fact that some of the residents have parked their cars there. In addition to providing parking spaces, it protects pedestrians against the impact of traffic and, when not occupied, provides a space where cyclists can decellerate after turning on or into Lucerne.
I already submitted my comments but in retrospect I don’t think the roundabout at Church and Lucerne is a good idea. We need a stop light there to enable people to cross the street safely, and I don’t think it is possible to combine a roundabout and a traffic signal. A roundabout might be feasible at Commerce & Clairmont, where a traffic signal could be moved to the west of the roundabout.