Construction continues on the Atlanta Road corridor between Fleming Street and Spring Road/Concord Road as contractors work to complete the . that the project is about 50 percent complete. But some Smyrna residents have raised concerns that the medians make Atlanta Road less safe for drivers.
, Council Representative Teri Anulewicz said the medians were designed to make the corridor safer for pedestrians. When the project is complete, the medians will be landscaped because a LCI study found that drivers slow down on landscaped corridors, she said.
At the meeting, Karen Douglas said the medians have made it impossible to turn out of her Ward 3 neighborhood.
“There have to be four lanes of traffic clear and I’ve seen near misses several times,” she said. “We didn’t even know our neighborhood was going to be shut.”
Anulewicz said she thought the medians would take time to get used to, but once drivers had changed their habits they would have fewer concerns.
Smyrna’s Ward 6 City Council Representative Wade Lnenicka said he’s heard complaints from residents of his ward and others that the cuts in the median aren’t big enough to accommodate turning traffic.
“They’re concerned with the median design that there’s not enough room in heavy traffic times,” he said. “For instance at the entrance into the Village Green at Powder Springs Street people used to look for a gap in southbound traffic and then pull out into the center turn lane and wait for a gap in the northbound traffic.”
Lnenicka said the current median design doesn't allow for drivers to merge into the middle of the road to wait out a break in the traffic. Instead, they have to wait till all four lanes are clear in both directions. This is something he thinks Council should discuss as a whole.
“I think Council needs to talk about the issue and come to a consensus that in fact there is an issue,” he said. “It’s my opinion that there’s an issue. I see what the citizens are telling me, but I don’t know how the rest of the Council feels about it and the Council hasn’t discussed it as an issue.”
However, the cars that Mr. Lnenicka mentioned that would turn left into the center lane to wait to merge were violating the law. Change the breaks in the median to like Spring and Windy Hill and the problem will be solved.
I mean here they are trying to improve the looks of Atlanta Rd with medians then the council allows a developer to build rear facing homes on Atlanta Rd across Campbell middle. There is no method to the madness, no true planning. The medians work better on Spring Rd b/c it was planned slightly better and on one side of Spring Rd there is greenspace between the walking trails and the roads. Going to the future, imagine now Jonquil Plaza complete and all the additional traffic it will bring now with medians at all sides. While medians do provide some beautification especially for non-residents, to residents they can become a constant reminder of being a PITA.
This is a perfect example of projects approved in a SPLOST a decade ago that are no longer relevant. I would not make these kinds of expenditures with money in my home and the government should not spend my money on these types of dangerous projects. It is also a perfect example of why the current TSPLOST should be defeated.
I have to wonder if all this redo is about safety or if it is really about spending our tax money to make contractors and buddies of politicians and bureaucrats richer. You can vote NO to the 10 year sales tax for theTransportation Investment Act (TIA/ TSPLOST) July 31, 2012 and save us $8.5 billion in the Atlanta metro region and $18.5 billion statewide.
stop!!!!) or that there won't be enough space to sit in the tiny center lane until I can finish crossing the other two lanes. I love trees, and want more green...but this plan for drivers and residents is awful.
I think that long-term, there may need to be some U-turn loops built in various areas like can be found in the New Jersey East Philly and Wilmington areas.
Man!
This was a comment left by someone on our Facebook page, but thanks for clearing that up for them.