Rush hour traffic through Decatur is heavy and will remain heavy. As noted, Commerce isn’t as much a bypass as it once was, but it does keep traffic off Ponce. I don’t think the best option is to strangle automobile traffic on the main roads. A consequence of this may be that people start cutting through the neighborhoods on roads that aren’t designed for high volume automobile traffic. Instead I would prefer to build separate bike paths and bike lanes on streets designed for roads already built for low volume automobile traffic and keep high volume automobile traffic on streets designed for that volume.

I also believe as the county seat Decatur has responsibilities for those driving in and out of Decatur each morning. The courthouse staffers who live in Stone Mountain, Chamblee, south DeKalb and elsewhere must drive to work. Various other county residents, including jurors, also come and go each day via car. I’m a Decatur resident whose job moved away from the Clifton corridor so I must traverse Decatur by car each day.

Making Decatur’s roads chokepoints in an effort to discourage people from driving may reduce some traffic, but as long as the courthouse and county administration buildings sit on and around the square, and as long as the metro Atlanta transportation options remain limited, I don’t see much reduction in our future. I simply see drivers finding alternate ways in, out, and through Decatur on residential streets to avoid the bottlenecks. I don’t think COD residents would prefer this outcome. I’m not against cycling and walking. As a resident, I do plenty of both (although much less when it’s snowing, raining heavily, below 40 or above 85 degrees). I’d simply like to find the best ways to walk, cycle, and drive and am not convinced every road is appropriate for all current transportation options. If so, maybe I’ll buy a horse and buggy and see how that goes.

Maybe another tunnel on the west side of McDonough street is a good idea, but the grades there are different than on Howard on the east side. You’re at the top of a hill on Howard near the upper high school parking lot. You could dig down, but then you have to worry about stormwater, etc. Not to mention the money and how the railroads are always such a joy to work with…

Rather than remove traffic lanes, why not try to time the lights better, especially at arrival and dismissal times for DHS.

Also, adding a pedestrian tunnel under the tracks at the intersection of Howard and Commerce to Renfroe would help by reducing the foot traffic across the track at McDonough Street.

The Snowjam led to an insightful piece that articulates the situation and alternatives well, I think:

http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/January-2014/How-the-Urban-Grid-Prevents-Atlantas-Heart-Attack-Traffic/

Each one of these are likely defensible individually, but add them all up and they start to cause problems that this new streetscape is intending to solve. I’m not against the streetscape plan from a pedestrian and aesthetic perspective, but the additional restrictions on vehicular traffic this imposes this is only going to increase the road sewer effect on College, Candler, and elsewhere.