What Exactly Will the Emory Roundabout Look Like?
Decatur Metro | September 10, 2010Like this.
Click the pic to enlarge and zoom in (PDF)
You can read an update on construction progress over on the Clairmont Heights Civic Association blog and see the coming stages of construction over on the Alliance to Improve Emory Village website.
As a pedestrian, going from Starbucks back to campus looks more intimidating than ever. Those wispy islands do not provide much comfort if needing to seek refuge. But the biggest things that worries me is the row of parallel parking spacing in from of the village. Once parked and in a hurry, not looking in the rear view mirror for on-coming bicyclists or other cars as you open the door to get out. Scary. I wish they weren’t there at all for this exact reason. It’s only 9 spaces, but not worth injuring all the cyclists (and cars) that come through there.
The best part about the construction is that Glenn Memorial loses its parking for a while. I have never understood why they felt the need to take up an entire lane for parking when there is a perfectly good parking deck 50 yards from the front door of the church.
I had the same complaint about St. Thomas More until the city revamped the area and made cut-ins for the the spaces. Reduced the street to one lane, but also reduced the probability that a car would slam into the back of a parked car in the lane.
Many of Glenn Memorial’s attendees are elderly and infirm. Maybe you don’t mid walking 50 extra yards but many of these senior citizens do.
The cars parked along the side are a hazard. Many times I’ve seen a car slam on its brakes due to the long line of cars that suddenly appears in the right hand lane.
And what’s worse is that one car that will remain parked in the lane until mid-afternoon everyone else is gone. Talk about dangerous.
The “many church members are old and infirm” argument could apply and many of the area churches. And no I don’t think they should be forced to walk two football fields from a parking area, but in Glenn Memorial’s case, the parking deck is literally right next door to the church. And on the same side of the street, no less. It seems far safer for church members to park in the deck than it does parking on the side of the street and risk being rear-ended or side swiped by a car upon exiting the vehicle.
Agreed. Let them get a shuttle. They can afford it with all of that tax free money they’re collecting.
Parking in that lane is legal until 3pm on Sundays.
I was hoping the drawing might help me understand how the new masonry at the Emory entrance and the BP lot fit into the plan. It looks like neither will be impacted much.
I have to wonder why planting trees between each of the incoming roads and the roundabout traffic coming from the left is a good idea. The idea of a roundabout is to keep traffic moving right? Every approaching vehicle has to stop (or come close to stopping) before entering the circle. I realize that most drivers aren’t looking more than 20 feet down the road anyway, but for those of us who do, the trees on the corners seems like a bad design decision.
That is the point. Cars slow in order to merge/enter the circle safely. Top speed is reduced, but average speed, throughput, and quickness with which you will reach your destination are all increased. Thus the trees. Yay, trees!
Will not comment, will not comment, will not….
At least I now know what a round CF looks like….
Not impressed with the tree choices. Red Maples are skimpy in urban situations, Never cared for th e”perfect vase” Zelkovas either. Bald Cypress OK. Darlington Oaks are on Ponce in Druid Hills, but there are better ‘clone’ Oak varieties that provide good form all along the street like Highpoint Nuttall Oak or Hightower Willow Oak.
Dowman Drive was designed with the roundabout plans. Should fit in fine. Old BP isn’t even a part of it.
What will it look like? Like every other traffic circle- scary.
That’s a typical American statement.
Traffic circles seem to work well in every other country.
And DC. Based on my experience, (no i don’t have any studies reports to back it up), it’s actually better for pedestrians because you only have to worry about cars coming from a single direction. Many a lovely afternoons were spent sitting in Dupont Circle. It’s also a great congregating spot. Just meet me in the circle!
I think the larger the traffic circle, the better it works and safer it is. This is no Dupont. You can have a picnic inside Dupont Circle and throw a frisbee.
That’s certainly one way of approaching it
The tree selection was conducted with input from a wide variety of landscape architects, urban designers, residents, business owners and university staff. Ultimately trees were selected for site specfic considerations. The Zelvoka elms will be the predominant street tree. There will be 28. One of the considerations was the tall, speading canopy that will be created over time to reduce the urban heat island. The red maples were chosen on north Oxford to match the same trees that Emory was planting further up the street on their property. The bald cypress was chosen because we intend to build a stormwater collecting cistern and a water feature in a new, small park in front of the Chevron property. A Darlington oak was given a prominent place in the park and was selected because it matches the oaks planted along the Olmstead linear parks.The amur maples will be planted in a grove the center of the roundabout without lower branches and will allow drivers to see through them. The Hawthornes have winter berries to add color. There were many options and considerations. We hope and believe that these are good trees for the conditions.
I’m rending-impaired. . . could someone who can read it tell me if there is really just one bike lane going in front of Doc Chey’s? My husband commutes to the Westside and goes through Emory Village. By the looks of it, he gains a bike lane in one direction (but not in the circle) but on the way home when going by Octane, he loses it. I’m so confused. . . . Can someone explain it to us?
I should have said my husband “bike commutes” (context may have made that obvious). . . .
The rendering does not show all of the design details. There will be bike lanes from the Lullwater roundabout to Clifton Road on both sides of North Decatur Rd. At the roundabouts the bike lanes end and bikes move through the roundabout like other vehicles.
I bike commute through there also. Can’t wait for the construction to be finished. It’s already gone on for an inexcusably long time, IMO. Currently, the road is a complete mess for a cyclist (and not much better for the drivers, either).
Am I the only one out there who, every time he sees the word ’roundabout’, gets that YES song stuck in his head?