Commerce at Trinity Ave is Getting Repaved
Decatur Metro | September 17, 2013
You all know this lovely intersection? The one where if you’re coming down Commerce a bit too quickly you bottom out when you hit Trinity? Well, it’s getting paved!
City Manager Peggy Merriss announced at the Decatur City Commission meeting last night that all the repaving projects for the fiscal year had been completed and that they came in $40,000 under budget. As such, the city is going to repave this intersection at the cost of approximately $38,000. Will it help with the bottoming out? Probably a bit. But either way, I think we can all agree that this intersection could definitely use a little TLC.
The milling and repaving will take place next Tuesday, September 24th. Should take about 5 hours, according to Ms. Merriss.
Photo courtesy of Google Maps
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I can’t believe I’m the first to respond to this! I have gone flying over that bump before, and I know I can’t be the only one.
My kids will miss the thrill.
This is great news, my undercarriage thanks you!
Will miss catching a bit of air on the scooter, but glad it’s getting some much needed attention.
Awwww… It was so much fun sitting at the light on Trinity and watching folks who didn’t know come bouncing through.
YES.
I always thought that intersection was a mini-topo map of the Rocky Mountains. Some kind of Decatur High School senior project that never went away.
But to what extent will it regrade (they did mention milling machine, but that usually just removes the top layer). I love getting my Eurovan airborn
I thought that major dip was to channel water flow into the sewer system.
Ha! I thought the dip and scratch was intentional to slow cars down!
Water channeling and keeping cars relatively slow (and preferably non-airborne) seem like two very important features of the remade intersection.
I was hoping they were going to replace the intersection with a craft brewery. Oh, well.
They were going to, but then they realized that simply flattening out the intersection would probably be enough to attract Trader Joe’s to the Calloway property.
With the $2000 left over after this project, can they grind down the speedbumps at Glenlake Park to about half their current height? I’m happy to have traffic slowed down along that stretch, but I have to come to almost a complete stop and downshift to first gear before putting my Honda over those babies if I don’t want to bottom out.
Good suggestion. My car hates how high those things are.
Sounds to me like they are working as intended. Some people treat the ones in my hood as ramps.
Yup, they definitely work, and I am glad they are there. I just wish they would shave a bit off the top. My car is pretty low to the ground and something always scrapes.
No, these are not speed humps or bumps. They are stalagmites. There is no speed slow enough that doesn’t cause problems, other than just parking on the things. Maybe they are meant to be the base for auto see-saws?
I just had to google “stalagmite” and “stalagtite” b/c I had them backwards in my head. Well done.
t for top
This is how I always remembered them:
stalagmite – “g” for ground
stalactite – “c” for ceiling
I learned: stalacTite for Top. I think yours is more comprehensive though.
I was taught that the ‘T’ in stalactite looks like what it describes (i.e., a point extending down from a surface), while the ‘M’ in stalagmite also looks like what it describes (i.e., points rising up).
I like the idea of words that include some visual indication of what they are. Can’t think of any other examples though.
This is the best way to remember! There’s still a g and a c to remember but usually those fall into place if you can remember -tite vs. -mite. I’ve always had to google it.
A stalagtite might (fall), while a stalagmite’s tight.
I learned the opposite of this one — stalagTITE is holding on tight to the ceiling. I don’t recall anything for the stalagmite because I really only needed the tite-tight connection.
For crying out loud, if y’all are going to spend the afternoon pontificating on this, get it right. There is no such thing as a stalagtite.
My bad. I just followed along — really tite/mite are the only parts I remember from that trip to Mammoth Cave with the girl scouts. But is it really that upsetting to you?
Not upsetting, just exasperating, and I’m sure I sounded more invested than I was. But if you read the sub-thread, it begins with someone supposedly confirming their understanding of the terms and in that comment, they don’t even get the terms right. Other people continue to chime in about how to keep it straight, but some of them don’t actually get it straight in their comments…I am one of those people whose teeth are set on edge by carelessness in spelling and grammar, so I snapped.
This actually confuses me more. I prefer my device, which leaves no room for confusion.
While they are at it, can we get the light timing changed too?
I know we have to go through Dekalb, but maybe no one will notice while it’s in construction chaos. Surely, some of our guys can do the job.
What’s wrong with it?
It needs to be “smarter” as the traffic flow at that intersection changes depending on if it’s 8am, 9am 4pm, 5pm or evening.
In general, the timing of the light on Commerce heading towards Ponce is not nearly long enough for the line of traffic most of the times I go through there. The Trinity light is too long as it stays green for a good 45 seconds with no one going through. And the left turn signals come on even with no one in the turn signal lane backing up traffic going straight.
Getting out of OAkhurst to points north is tough enough, I hate that a poorly timed traffic signal makes it worse. Also, most of us use Adair/Pinetree to cut through rather than deal with that, and Adair is not the best artery for large amounts of traffic.
That is all because of the age and lack of functionality of the system. I don’t imagine it is smart enough to adjust to traffic flow and change the timing. The left turn trigger with no cars is a maintenance issue and is, unfortunately, quite common. Supposedly, Decatur re-upped with DeKalb County for some number of years (5, I think) for traffic engineering in order to take advantage of some grants the County was/is supposed to get to upgrade many signals.
If Fred is looking at this, perhaps he could chime in.
I agree with your points, but it is still frustrating.
I do notice that the Y-crossing at College and Olympia has been changed to a “smart” light sometimes.
Or maybe it’s always smart, but it was almost impossible to get the light to change on the one fork by the gas station, but now at night on on weekends, it’s pretty quick.
I see I’m going to have to speed up my plans to fulfill my long-time fantasy for that intersection: to buy a souped-up old jalopy with just enough life in it for one final hurrah, accelerate down Commerce, and floor it just as I hit that bump, so I can grab air (a la The Dukes of Hazzard in the General Lee). Then, if I still have an undercarriage, peel out on down the street like a bat out of hell, Decatur’s finest in hot pursuit. It’ll be magnificent.
I hate to say it, but the paving came in under budget because they did a really fast/rush job on the roads. I loved the charm of the cobblestone lining on the sides of my street. Sadly, it’s barely visible now that the new road was placed over the old road. I wish more consideration would have been taken in the execution of the new paving.