UPDATE III: Decatur PD says that North Decatur Road has reopened.

UPDATE II:  From DPD…

On 5-6-2015 at approximately 12:22 pm, Decatur Police responded to a vehicle accident involving a passenger car and a cement truck on North Decatur Road and Superior Avenue. The road is closed to remove the vehicles and debris. The driver of the passenger car sustained minor injuries and was transported to an area hospital. The driver of the cement truck did not sustain injuries. The driver of the cement truck was cited for disregarding a red light and too fast for conditions. Clean up is still underway at this time but is expected to be completed by approximately 5:00 pm. We will send an update once the roadway has been reopened.

UPDATE: Decatur PD reports that there were no fatalities in this accident. All injuries were “non-life threatening”.

Catherine writes in with this report and photo…

Photo of accident at Superior and N. Decatur, just inside CoD so our police are working it. Cement mixer turns over on top of car. My husband talked to the fire and rescue personnel and they report that the driver of the car was conscious and talking when pulled from the car and the driver of the cement mixer is also alive and OK from what I understand.

Don’t know how it happened. We were out and came home to this.

I will be emailing city next to ask that they take more measures to make this intersection safer. Things are getting worse and worse.

The Decatur Minute is reporting that the road will be closed for several hours.

There has been an accident at N Decatur Rd & Superior Ave and the intersection is expected to be blocked for several hours while emergency personnel respond. Please avoid this area for now. An update will be posted once the intersection is re-opened.

We’re following up with Decatur PD to get the police report.  Stay tuned.

An interesting post on the CHCA website, if you’ve ever found yourself head-on with one of these lovely holes in North Decatur Road lately…

From local resident Jim Smith: I went to the DC R&D website and filled out the online paving/pothole “Request for Assistance” form to get them to repave the westbound curb lane of N. Decatur Road. I am hoping that if enough folks do the same that we will get a response. The potholes in the section of N. Decatur Rd. from Medlock to N. Superior are so bad that folks are constantly swerving into the other lane to avoid them. Please fill out the request form and let’s try to get some results from our tax dollars !! http://www.dekalbcountyga.gov/infofroma-z.html#p Fill out the form online and click the “Submit by Email” button at the top.  There is also an email address you could use: [email protected]   if you prefer.  Thanks… Jim Smith

The Medlock Area Neighborhood Association website has an excellent, extensive summary of the North Decatur Road Safety Audit presentation last week.  Cutting to the chase, here are the audit’s official recommendations…

1) a complete street conversion (“road diet”) to reduce North Decatur Road from 4 lanes to 3, by creating a center turn lane and bike lanes. Study of this option suggested.
2) create a multi-use trail to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists
3) widen the street to create a “complete street boulevard” (which includes 2 traffic lanes and a center turn lane, dedicated bike lanes on each side, and dedicated pedestrian sidewalk on each side)

But of course, funds are limited…

…the County’s resources are limited for doing necessary improvements. For example, the County has ~2,000 miles of roads but, with a $120 million resurfacing shortfall, the budget only allowed for the resurfacing of 35 miles of roads. Patrece added that road maintenance is HOST based, so, the County splits available funds with its cities.

That said, neighborhood representatives seem encouraged by the County’s willingness to address and consider these issues and there are a number of less expensive work-arounds that are mentioned throughout the post that seem much more likely to become reality.

Map courtesy of MANA from the DeKalb 2014 Transportation Plan – which deserves it’s own separate post at some point!

Joe sends along this announcement…

• Community Meeting: For a safer North Decatur Road
• Sept. 26, 2013 7:00 PM
• North Decatur Presbyterian Church 611 Medlock Rd, Decatur, GA (at the corner of Medlock Rd. & N. Decatur)

You know how dangerous N. Decatur Rd. is, now is your chance to let the County and the City of Decatur know. The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and Bike Emory will present the results of the Road Safety Audit that was conducted on N. Decatur Rd. from Church Street to Clifton Rd. to study and improve bicycle and pedestrian safety on N. Decatur.

Our DeKalb County Commissioner, Jeff Rader; County Traffic Engineering staff; City of Decatur Commissioner Fred Boykin; Decatur’s Director of Design, Environment and Construction; and PEDS will be present to answer questions.

Updates and ways to get involved will be provided on the CHCA website (http://clairmontheights.org) and the MANA website (www.medlockpark.org)

Commissioner Fred Boykin sends along this flyer…

Michael points out this AJC blurb from way back on Aug 5th...

‘Road diet’ considered for North Decatur Road

A “road diet” is one possibility under consideration for revamping North Decatur Road from Clairmont Road to Willivee Drive, which traverses both DeKalb County and Decatur.

On June 21, 2012 Jianchang Wu was killed by a car while crossing on foot at the Landover Drive intersection, and bicyclist Paul Taylor was killed by a truck near Willivee Drive April 30, 2012.

A “diet” for this heavily-traveled stretch (19,000 cars daily, though only those two fatalities) would include cutting North Decatur from four to two lanes, adding sidewalks and bikes lanes on each side.

Bill Banks for the AJC

Also, the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association website reported this morning on preparations for a Road Safety Audit being conducted on North Decatur between Church and Clairmont, who’s recommendations COULD end up including “road diet measures, sidewalk improvements, additional crosswalks, and repaving N. Decatur.”

Stay tuned.

Michael sent in this photo of a new “ghost chair” for Jianchang Wu, who was killed at the intersection of North Decatur Road and Superior Avenue a few weeks ago. The chair sits across from the ghost bike of Paul Taylor, who was killed near the same intersection last year.

Michael adds…

I have seen workers from the county taking photos of the traffic on North Decatur from the vantage point of Landover Drive and a crew came out from the county “because of the traffic fatality” and cleared all the kudzu and brush that grows out of the creek into the street.

However, this doesn’t address the fact that there is no where to walk except the street anyway on that side of North Decatur.

These small changes have been documented by another nearby resident, Joe, who took the following photo of the cutback shrubbery and adds that the clearing of the sidewalk…

…helps some, but as you can see from the attached photos, this remains an extremely dangerous place for pedestrians. The sidewalk narrows and loses the grass strip at the creek, making the pedestrian walk within inches of fast moving traffic. On top of that, the sidewalk is crumbling, broken and uneven. If a person were to trip on the manhole, they would surely be hit by oncoming cars. This section of road is right across from Landover and adjacent to the scene of the terrible tragedy that happened to the Wu family. It is my personal hope that the County can replace this culvert or at least the sidewalk with something that removes the pedestrian from the flow of traffic.