Decatur and Atlanta Applying For Fed Grant to Connect Cities with “Complete Streets”
Decatur Metro | April 21, 2014Check out this interesting resolution up for a vote at this evening’s Decatur City Commission meeting…
Whereas, the City of Decatur plans to partner with the City of Atlanta to submit the Atlanta-Decatur Complete Streets Initiative: Connecting the Region’s Workforce to Transit TIGER application. This Project would include complete street rebuilds on M L King, Jr Drive, Lee Street/Peters Street, and Decatur Street/DeKalb Avenue. Each corridor parallels one of the MARTA lines and is the primary connecting street between neighborhoods and their local MARTA station, but each is treacherous to pedestrian and bicycles. The project would include a complete street makeover for each corridor totaling over 11 miles of new sidewalks and trails, resurfaced roadway with improved lane configuration, street trees, new curbing, and pedestrian lighting; and,
Whereas, this project will directly connect thousands of low-income and transit-dependent residents to the 250,000+ jobs directly accessible by MARTA rail and will link downtown Decatur to downtown Atlanta via safe pedestrian, bicyclist and transit infrastructure; and,
Whereas, the City of Decatur will request $5,000,000 in funds to complete the Decatur portion of the project and will provide a 50% match of $2,750,000; and,
Now Therefore, Be It Resolved and it is Hereby Resolved by the Decatur City Commission that they support the submission of a grant proposal in the amount of $5,000,000 with a local match of $2,750,000 to the US Department of Transportation for the TIGER grant program for the purpose of completing the ATLANTA-DECATUR COMPLETE STREETS INITIATIVE.
Photo courtesy of James