For all my talk about mass transit, I, like most people, still use a car on an almost daily basis.  And the Emory BP has been my go to station.  Close and relatively cheap compared to everything else in the vicinity.

Welp, it looks like I’m about to start paying more to fill up.  Maybe this is a sign that I should finally go diesel/bi0-diesel.

A reader sends in parts of a note that was just sent out to Emory staff…

“… the BP station in Emory Village has been sold and will close as of June 1, Emory University did NOT purchase it, … did not know what plans have been made for that property.”

Just wondering if you have any leads on who purchased this property and what the plans are?

Also, fyi, here is the remainder of the email detailing the Emory Village project and future plans for this summer and the rest of the year:

“…The water line project in Emory Village is complete. Georgia Power will now begin the process of burying overhead utilities, including electricity, cable TV, and telephone. This phase is expected to begin in June and extend into fall, perhaps through the end of the calendar year. The work is scheduled to take place mainly between 8pm and 5am, but will nonetheless be disruptive. DeKalb County has gone to bid for construction of the roundabout, with an anticipated start date in August, and a one year duration. So it looks like Emory Village will be a mess for another year…”

If you thought highway gridlock was bad, then you’ve never been stuck going east on N. Decatur on a weekday afternoon.

Paula sums up the firsthand experience nicely in a recent letter to our CEO…

Dear Mr. Ellis:

My husband commutes by shuttle bus to Emory from Decatur, a distance of approximately 4 miles. Lately, the commute home has been taking 50 minutes or more. This is due almost entirely to the mis-timed traffic lights on North Decatur Rd at Clairemont Rd. Because the light in front of the McDonald’s entrance on North Decatur Rd. is so long and improperly synchronized with the light at the intersection, very few cars can get through in any one light cycle. As a result, it can take 30 minutes or more simply to travel the one mile from Emory to Clairmont Rd.

I would very much appreciate it if you could arrange to have the timing on these lights adjusted, or direct me to the appropriate official.

I certainly concur that the “McDonald’s light” is an absolute annoyance, the bigger challange is having one of the state’s largest employers, smack dab in the middle of a residential district.   While plans are still “go” for a roundabout at the university’s main entrance, no amount of road tweaking can quell the mob that is coming and going from campus all day long.

What IS the answer?  Long-term, Decatur is looking into the feasibility of light-rail or signal coordination for buses between Emory and Decatur (see page 23 of the Streets section of the Community Transportation Plan), but even that won’t eliminate Emory’s problem.  What else can be done?  Anything?