The Woes of an Emory Commute
Decatur Metro | April 3, 2009If 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?
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I’m glad I am not the only one who noticed. I don’t drive to work often but I did last Friday, and spent a good 25 minutes trying to get past that intersection on the way home. It is a complete and utter disaster. I’d recommend to Paula’s husband that he try biking to work. Traffic problems will be a thing of his past.
I agree Emory generates a lot of traffic and the residential roads surrounding it are not adequate, but I am not sure there are any bottlenecks like that one near McD’s. I think the problem is more a complete lack of planning there than anything else; a strip mall at each corner of an intersection, with a badly mis-timed light, is going to create big problems under any circumstances. The easy fix is to just get rid of that light right next to McDonald’s on N. Decatur. The only purpose it serves is to allow people to turn left out of the Willy’s strip mall, but why not just force those people to exit on Clairemont?
Long term, this is a big problem, because I tend to agree that area is at the limits of its growth unless we change the fundamental character of the adjacent neighborhoods, would would be an awful idea.
Yes, it’s definitely not an easy commute even though we live so close to Emory. The clogged commute and lack of parking are our biggest problems. The traffic light at McDonalds adds to the congestion and should be corrected asap to ease the bottleneck.
Apparently the controller device at the Clairmont/North Decatur intersection failed recently and the timing went FUBAR.
Emory traffic can be dealt with in several ways. The Cliff shuttles are a great help and the increased cost of parking on campus helps. New student housing on campus will help. Student and patient trips do not necessarily coincide with peak traffic. The new mixed-use developments in Emory Village and on Clifton Road can alleviate some future trips. Improved bike access along North Decatur and along the Mason Mill corridor could help.
The CDC and the hospitals are more of a problem than Emory. CDC parking is free and there are some major league parking decks associated with those new buildings. Patients, doctors, nurses, service deliveries and visitors to the new (proposed and now on hold) Emory Hospital Building and clinic are not going to use any alternatives.
One option that Emory refuses to consider is opening up the shuttle road than runs from their Clairmont Campus to the main Campus. Opening this route would have the greatest impact on congestion and air quality. Currently it is only used by Cliff shuttles and cyclists. Ironicaly it is the enviornmental community on campus that is resisting the opening of this road to general vehicles.
Don’t underestimate the impact of that light. I have gone through that area when traffic sparse but the light wasn’t working, and it still creates backups! Fixing the timing on the lights is the cheapest possible solution and the easiest to fix. It shouldn’t take a letter to get it done, though.
I had never traveled through there on a weekday. I was at the CVS at Emory Village and called a pediatrician by Dekalb Medical (straight shot down N. Decatur). She asked if I could be there in 15 min. It was 3:45. I said “of course!” I was shocked by the traffic. It took 40 minutes!!!! Once I made it past McDonald’s it was smooth sailing. Thanks to Paula for calling attention to it.
That’s a nasty intersection indeed. I feel for the people that drive there every day.
I second the recommendation to bike using the back roads, i. e., Clifton/Conventry or along Lullwater park, depending on the destination. I myself bike to Emory from Morningside, a 2 mile commute that takes me about 10 minutes each way.
UC Berkeley is also “smack dab” in a residential district, yet there is not nearly as much traffic jam as there is here. They have city and university buses, BART (which does go under residential homes), and of course a lot of bikers. One round-about isn’t going to help Emory. A MARTA line connecting Arts Center/Lindberg with Decatur/Avondale and cutting through CDC would be a much better solution. But we know that will never happen.
Why not just avoid the whole mess and take Clifton to Ponce/Scott, then backtrack if necessary on Clairemont? It’d be more road miles, but would almost certainly be quicker.
The so called “community” AIEV
http://www.emoryvillage.org/
has done planning to show that the second roundabout at the 5-way N Decatur/Oxford/Dowman intersection, with a single lane each way to the first roundabout will reduce traffic.
Well, of course it will. It will shift traffic into the surrounding neighborhoods, so Emory(tm) Village shops can have more pedestrian traffic. It will cut off a thoroughfare (admittedly too crowded) by making it MORE crowded.
Proof?
Last week the right lane in front of Everybody’s was blocked for street work, and morning rush hour was stopped halfway back up North Decatur to Briarcliff. The vaunted Lullwater roundabout was useless when it was filled with stopped cars.
(Oh, and have you ever seen a pedestrian try to get past the Lullwater roundabout? Scary, for anyone paying attention.)
I hope the traffic engineers are right, since this is a done deal. But I have a hard time believing this 2-roundabout plan will help anyone except Emory, by making the front entrance look more pastoral and less frenetic.
It certainly won’t help Emory Faculty/Staff/Students who for whatever reason still have to drive; it won’t help people on Clifton behind the village trapped in their own driveways; and it won’t help any Non-Emory “civilian” trying to negotiate this part of DeKalb county.
Wow. Sorry about the rant.
OK, only kinda sorry.
I drive to work, to Linbergh through Emory, at 6am in the morning. It doesn’t take that long, at that time. The “McD’s” light needlessly turns red just after I make the left from Clairemont Rd heading west on N. Decatur. Many cars cut through the corner gas station to avoid the lights (if they can).
In the afternoon, at around 3pm I choose to take I-85 down to Freedom Parkway. The Clairemont Rd. – N. Decatur intersection is already a nightmare at that time. Between the high school letting out, Emory, and CDC traffic it’s the “place not to be at”.
There was yet another accident at that intersection Wednesday night. I don’t know if it is because people get tired of waiting and try to make a left turn after the light changes, but I constantly see traffic accidents there.
That intersection is bad from every angle – try coming south on Clairmont in the afternoon. Half the traffic tries to avoid it by going through the Desmond-North Superior residential area.
The answer is a traffic circle. Anyone who has travelled in Great Britain will attest, they keep things moving. That intersection has always been my A number 1 site for a traffic circle in the ATL metro area, with the N. Decatur/Scott Boulevard/Church street intersection A number 2. It appears Emory has started with the traffic circles in immediate areas where they have more control – maybe they are trying to prove them out and then push for them at the next two N. Decatur intersections I mentioned?
If you are coming from Emory to Decatur during evening rush hour, bypass the whole mess by taking Clifton to East Clifton and then turning on Coventry. Even if it takes longer, it’s less of a hassle than sitting on North Decatur, waiting to get to Clairmont and then waiting to get to Scott Blvd. Just go slow because it is a residential neighborhood.
As a resident of Chelsea Heights who lives near Coventry, I can attest that a lot of Emory folks already use that road. And I must report that quite a few of them speed through the neighborhood and do not respect crosswalks or the rights of pedestrians. Most of the neighborhood roads are not designed for high speeds or high traffic – please be mindful of that.
My ideal site for roundabout in Decatur is at West Ponce, Northern and Nelson Ferry. The center could be a sculpture, and make a beautiful iconic welcome to downtown Decatur.
I think traffic roundabouts definetly have a bigger role to play, but I’m not sure they’ll work at Clairmont and ND. They are most helpful when there are lots of turning movements. They are usually more efficient than signals because the intersection never has to clear or reset when the light changes. Instead cars are constantly moving thru the intersection. They are much safer than traditioanl intersections because the “T-Bone” crash is eliminated and speeds are much slower. No one ever speeds up to sneak past the yellow light. Finally they are energy efficient – no electricity and in non-peak hours you never wait idling for the light to change.
At ND and Clairmont you would need a two-lane roundabout, and those are tricky to navigate. (The soon-to-be built roudabout in front of Everybody’s Pizza is accomodated by a road diet. Instead of ND opening into four lanes at Lullwater, it won’t become 4 lanes until Clifton).
Biking would be a great option, if my husband were not – ahem – bike challenged. Alternate routes might work for drivers, but it’s hard to convince the shuttle bus driver to just forget the whole established route business and take back roads.
Traffic all around Emory is so bad it warrants a revolution. It waste so much time for so many. And a lot of that time is high-value time (i.e. people who should be generating life saving and money making ideas).
The Swiss are tunneling through the Alps. The English channel has a train that runs underneath it. And we are still stuck on bike lanes. Pathetic – no?
The only way to actually “eliminate” a traffic “problem” is to get rid of the jobs.
That the land around the Clairmont-N Decatur intersection is exclusively single-use, car-oriented commercial strip crap is part of the problem.
I agree with Progressive Dem regarding the roundabout idea at W. Ponce, Northern, Nelson Ferry intersection as my car was totaled there a couple of weeks ago.
I’m kind of relieved to know I’m not the only one with this problem. My commute from the Perimeter Mall area to Oakhurst takes an hour at rush hour, and the other day I thought I was so lucky to be coming home from the Emory area instead – but it took even longer! It’s definitely a traffic light timing issue, although it’s not that much better driving down Clairmont towards the same intersection.
Well for one thing CDC should be in an uninhabited part of the country not in the middle of a major metropolitan area. What were they thinking?
Perhaps better class timing at Emory. Also if Emory wants to get any bigger they’re probably going to have to get more land somewhere else.
Emory should have purchased Druid Hills High, torn it down, and moved the hospital off of Clifton. Light rail could have served that location along the train tracks at the back with shuttles serving the university and CDC.
And the risk of infection from CDC is much less than one of Decatur’s ubiquitous sneezing germy children running unsupervised thru my restaurant.
You obviously don’t understand what an architectural treasure DHHS is. Please let us know which restaurant is yours so we can stay out.
How many of the students at DHHS actually live in that neighborhood? Very few. So massive amounts of gas are burned and traffic on North Decatur is increased every day to take kids to an “architectural treasure”.
My kids went to school there, and the majority of students come from within the school district boundaries. If you’ve seen the parking lot at Druid Hills, you know that it holds fewer than 50 cars. Because parking is quite limited, students usually car pool, walk or get dropped off by their parents on the way to work. I would guess there are 10-15 buses from outside the immediate neighborhood that serve the school. Compared to the vast majority of single-occupant vehicles along N Decatur Road, traffic from Druid Hills High is a drop in the bucket. Trips to the hospitals and CDC are far more signifcant contributors to traffic than the school. Besides the school is in session 9 monthes and clears out before 5 PM rush.
I couldn’t agree more.
After YEARS (we’ve been here almost 8 – I don’t know how long it was bad before that) they finally fixed the light at E Parkwood and Ponce – used to take just short of an eternity for it to change causing cars to back up on Scott. Minor compared to the mess at N Decatur/Clairemont but, still….
It’s my understanding that the restricted bus/bike only shuttle road is restricted because of the adjacent private neighborhood along some of the route.
This is what I was told as a new Emory employee a few years ago. So technically, it’s hearsay, but a call to the Parking office could confirm, I’m sure.
-The maximum width of the concrete bridge over the railroad track was limited, so any cyclist trying to pedal up the arched bridge is in mortal danger if two buses are trying to pass. It’s barely wide enough for a sidewalk and the curbs are crazy high on the bridge deck.
-Although the Cliff bus fleet includes diesel buses, only low/no emission 100% electric or LP gas powered buses are allowed on that stretch.
-Streetlights are strictly proscribed to emit as little extraneous light as possible, so the path is lit, but it’s a little scary for solo pedestrians at night.
-There’s a covenant to never allow it to be open to general traffic.
Emory is surely planning to rid itself of this annoyance the same way they’re planning to move the main North Decatur entrance to Healthcareland one block east from Clifton to Ridgewood–they’ve bought almost all the houses on the street, so they can widen it when the last homeowner or two kicks off and their estates sell.
Mortal danger is a massive overstatement. I have biked over that brige almost daily for years and never had any sort of incident. Lots of other bike commuters use it and I have never heard of a problem.
Love the Nelson Ferry/Northern/Ponce roundabout idea! Not only would it get rid of that horrid light, but it would slow people down entering and leaving the city. Maybe we can sneak it in when they add the bike lanes to W. Ponce.
And let’s just make sure any sculpture is a little more secure than the poor Pointing Man by Emory.
“We know that will never happen.” That is so sad. We should be asking why not.
That was Bobby Kennedy: “Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?”
Don’t be too tough on Alex, Rick. He’s basically correct. We do know why not. MARTA floated a number of proposals maybe 6 or 8 years back. There were several alternatives but, if I recall correctly, the gist was light rail connecting from Arts Center, through Emory and then down Clairemont to Decatur heavy rail.
There were all kinds of pros and cons in the various scenarios but, at the end of the day, the city told MARTA in no uncertain terms to back off. There was a big gathering on the square where Mayor Floyd took to the bandstand and essentially said, MARTA, we’ve suffered enough of your crap.
Never heard much about it after that.
I’ve been thinking of a roundabout there for some time. Where would we make such a recommendation? That’s a perfect place for one.
MC, Amanda Thompson is the lead person for City of Decatur transportation planning.
MARTA wanted to use the CSX line for to extend their heavy rail which would have encroached on some neighborhoods like the Fernbank area as huge cement embankments would have to be built for electrical security. On my particular block, all the houses on one side of the street would have been condemned. There was a huge turnout at the MARTA meetings by my neighborhood and we were able to derail that plan, no pun intended. I don’t recall MARTA even being able to substantiate the ridership projections to even justify such a project.
Just build more rail sounds great until it rips through an established neighborhood like yours.
Anonymouse, I sympathize with your concerns but I do think the circle will help. Perhaps the proof that you cite above isn’t all that instructive. When there is construction in the middle of an intersection where five roads meet (which means five separate light cycles), it’s no wonder that a traffic circle somewhere else got backed up. But that’s not what anyone is proposing. The two traffic circles – when both are built, which has not yet happened – will most certainly work together to improve traffic flow. A circle is far better than waiting five light cycles! Also, I am often a pedestrian at both intersections, and I can attest that the Lullwater circle is far easier and safer to negotiate than the Oxford/NDecatur mess. At times I’ve waited ten minutes to cross N. Decatur at the Everybody’s Pizza.
You know, it’s quite interesting that traffic flow and pedestrian safety issues often require counter-intuitive solutions. For example, greater density, if planned effectively, could improve traffic in the intown area – though most people wouldn’t ever believe it. For another case study in the absurd but true, here’s a Wired Mazagine article from 2004 that features a Danish engineer’s bizarre solutions to these issues; amazingly, they have worked. Take a look: http://www.walkablestreets.com/wild.htm
Uh, AMB…you might want to think that thru. Druid Hills High is full and one of the more successful public high schools in the state. The state standards for new high schools requires something in the neighborhood of 35 acres. The replacement costs are enormous, and why would anyone want to close it?
Emory plans to move their hospital off of Clifton anyway, but just moving the hospital a few hundreds yards won’t change regional transportation patterns.
David, what do you mean by class timing? I don’t think Emory students are really the problem at that intersection.
Timing classes has little to do with the traffic. University and Healthcare employees (and Healthcare customers) outnumber students, and make up the bulk of traffic at rush hour.
FWIW, the CDC is in Atlanta because 60 years ago Atlanta was a large town near the Malaria belt http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/history/history_cdc.htm
It’s near a research university and a teaching hospital. Granted, it studies scarier diseases now, but the Feds sure seem to continue funding construction at the current location.
If it were in an “uninhabited part of the country,” you might find it difficult to staff.