Commission Set To Accept $2.1 Million Agreement with GDOT for C-Streets Ped/Bike Improvement Plan
Decatur Metro | September 3, 2013
Funny…I just this past week openly wondered on the status of this transportation project.
At tonight’s meeting, Decatur’s City Commission will vote on an agreement between the city and the Georgia Department of Transportation for the Clairemont-Commerce-Church Street Pedestrian Safety and Bicycle Trail Improvements. The agreement, which was originally announced way back in November 2011, will provide $2.1 million for the project from the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Livable Centers Initiative program.
The entire C-Streets project is estimated to cost $4.2 million. So where will the rest of the funding come from? A letter from Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon details the sources…
We anticipate a total construction budget of about $4,162,000 for the project from the following sources:
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MARTA $400,000
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TE Program 900,000
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LCI Program 2,109,000
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GO 2007 565,000
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HOST 188,000
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Total $4,162,000
Mr. Saxon also projects the project wouldn’t start until 2017.
Need a refresher on the C-Streets pedestrian and bike improvements plan? Click HERE.
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Hmmm so it looks in every mock-up shown that Williams St is to be reopened? Definitely would be handy to avoid Commerce Dr when transitioning from Church St to Clairemont Ave, but I am sure there would be plenty of angry folks if it happens.
Just a word if caution, those mock ups are over a year old at this point. And I don’t believe any new drafts were created post community meeting. I can ask the city though. Or perhaps Fred can jump in and clarify, since he’s pretty close to this process.
There’s no residential on that stretch — just business locations that suffered when the street was closed and will benefit from enhanced access once it opens. What kind of angry folks are you thinking of?
Probably the folks trying to get in and out of their condos.
I guess I’m missing something. How does opening up Williams affect people getting into or out of their condos? If anything, it provides an alternate path between Church and Clairemont, reducing the amount of traffic that must get on Commerce.
Is there not an entry to the condos off of Williams? Thru traffic would add another layer of cars going down Williams and might cause backups getting out of and into the development.
If that street is opened up, it would need speed humps to prevent (or attempt to prevent) people flying down that 200 yard stretch to cut off the intersection.
Got it. No, there’s no condo entrance on Williams. Only commercial properties that got hosed when the road was closed to begin with.
I stand corrected. Drove by last night and there is no condo entrance on Williams. But we would still need speed humps to control the race car drivers.
Seems like a very worthwhile streetscape project. Any idea when construction is supposed to start?
Ah yes, that’s the one thing I forgot to include in the original post. 2017.
Tomorrow’s news today???
Sweet, that gives me just enough time to build my anti-streetscape improvement coalition.
I know transportation projects can take a while to get going, but construction will only be starting in 2017? So that means it’ll be finished in 2018?
That’s a long enough time frame that some of the conditions used to design these changes may change.
It’s GDOT, you know.
Is paving the streets a part of the package?
This means that Commerce to Clairemont will be an absolute nightmare in the mornings, especially if the BofA property is converted to condos or apartments.
Traffic will be unbearable trying to take a right onto Clairemont.
“Traffic will be unbearable trying to take a right onto Clairemont.”
It already is. Drives me bonkers when people in the left lane suddenly cut over in order to take that right. Sometimes I wish I had that Gatling gun on the front of my car…
Yes, people, the Gatling gun reference is a joke. I don’t really have one. On my car.
Agree with you 100 percent about the people who speed past a line of traffic only to put their blinker on at the last minute in a “oh i had no idea this lane doesn’t turn” fashion. It’s even more irritating when they don’t wave.
DM is right – these are the “old” concept plans & the drawing is focused on the Church St., Clairemont/Commerce intersections. It doesn’t show anything about the Church St. portion down towards the cemetery & pool. There will be another public meeting sometime this fall for folks to review & comment on updated concept drawings based on the last public meeting (which I admit happened awhile back).
Tonight’s vote is to take the next step to get/keep the funding in place. No firm designs/plans have been approved by the Commission.
Thank you, Fred, for the clarity.
Although, you should realize that you’ve effectively shut down the conversation before it even started.
It makes it much harder to have a fun discussion about our respective assumptions, theories, red herrings and hyperbole when you shut it down with facts about process.
Yeah, Fred injected fact and reason into the thread. I think I’ll vote against him.
Anyone know if this will include retiming the Clairemont/Commerce and Church/Commerce lights? As you drive from North Decatur on Clairemont , after waiting sooo long for the arrows and turning left (this light is Never Green), the light turns red at Church just at the second you arrive, even when there are no cars at the intersection. Every time for 18 years, I swear it. So frustrating!
So Commerce which was designed to route traffic around the courthouse area will now became
just as difficult to get through. Am I reading this right? Not sure of the logic here.
The creation of Commerce Blvd. occurred at a time when Decatur leadership was pursuing a very different vision than the one we have today (which has been building and refining since the 80s). During that time of significant flight and disinvestment, the prevailing wisdom was that we must compete with the newly developing suburbs by better accommodating cars.
In the view of many, that line of thinking was a mistake. One no shortage of Decatur policy and expenditure for the past 30 years has been directed towards correcting. So, yes, these changes may (or may not) inconvenience cars slightly but they’ll also open up considerable opportunities for walking and biking, which is what the city’s working towards.
This is a great plan! It should cause a lot of the people that use Decatur as a cut-through to take an alternate route.
I just hope that I live to see it completed.