On Thursday, November 19, 2020, I joined the Decatur 2030/ Decatur 202 Zoom call about transportation and mobility. The Zoom style conference format was cumbersome, though it is understandable given that we are still in the midst of the Pandemic. The following are some notes and thoughts inspired by the discussions from the breakout group I sat in on, coupled with my own personal anecdotes and observations regarding Church Street, the main artery in the city that feeds the downtown from the Northeast.
I have lived along the noisy and traffic heavy Church Street for ten years. Before I retired last year, I commuted to Midtown via MARTA and walked Church Street everyday rain or shine. I have issues with the narrow sidewalks that are just a foot or two away from the unchecked speeding traffic. All the members of the breakout group agreed that improving sidewalks would go along way to improve accessibility and use for seniors, people who use walkers, shopping carts (from Claremont Oaks) and parents with strollers. As we learned from Heather Alhadeff's excellent presentation 20 % of the trips made by Decaturites are work related with the remaining 80 % are for running errands, i.e. taking children to school and going to the store. Moreover, reducing the number of short car trips along Church street would dovetail with larger goals of improving health of all citizens and reduce some of the carbon footprint and emissions.
General Comments from The Breakout Group
Two important observations from the group were: It is critical to be mindful that much of the Monday-Friday traffic is Atlanta area motorists passing through the city on Commerce, Church, Claremont, College, Scott and DeKalb-Howard Avenue. It seems unfair to punish these motorists by blocking major arteries, but slowing these motorists down would be a positive. Reducing the number of local trips by residents (to schools, shopping, or work) would benefit these motorists as well.
One problem that Decatur has is the railroad tracks splitting on the south side of downtown. New crossings at McDonough and Trinity have improved the situation but pedestrian and bicycle access at College and Commerce and by Agnes Scott could be improved as well. The scheduled redesign of the Atlanta Avenue - Adair/Howard intersection is expected to begin in 2022. See details.
Church Street
Currently, walking along Church Street is nothing less than unpleasant and sometimes dangerous considering the high speed of the traffic and the limited places to cross the street safely. Alhadeff's presentation, pointed out that a pedestrian struck by an auto at 20 mph has a 1 in 10 chance of being a fatality in contrast to an vehicle traveling at 40 mph hitting a pedestrian which statistically will result in a fatality 9 in 10 times. It is common for a car to travel 30 mph along Church and sometimes even faster.
There are some lane merging around Glenwood Park, but the markers, the lane lines and traffic post/cones are in disrepair. I cannot recall one time in the decade that I have lived here to see any maintenance. The sidewalks from Ponce De Leon to Forkner are narrow, broken and can barely accommodate two pedestrians at time. Heavy rain leaves puddles that splash pedestrians. Seniors from Clairmont Oaks struggle to navigate these uneven sidewalks to get to Kroger's on Commerce.
There is more regular pedestrian traffic by necessity especially since two MARTA bus routes have been discontinued (but the signage doesn't necessarily reflect this and sadly you can see people waiting for buses that will never come) since the Pandemic. These two bus routes did serve people who relied on MARTA and now some residents must walk the entire stretch of Church (from North Decatur to Ponce) to get to the MARTA station at Decatur Square.
Only very dedicated cyclists ever bicycle along Church Street. The cyclist markings have long faded and really what do they really accomplish anyway? There is no connection between the new Commerce bike lanes and Church Street but that is expected to change after the redevelopment at Commerce Street between Church and Claremont is completed. Of course, there are no designated bike lanes from that point north on Church Street.
Are Improvements Scheduled?
This is not easy to ascertain. You can look at the Destination:2030 webpage not be be confused with the 202o Strategic Plan page linked of the DecaturNext page, but if you dig deep you can find a note about the connecting Claremont to Church, but nothing about the timeline of improving Church Street. The most comprehensive document (and it takes some digging to find it) is the Decatur Community Transportation Plan (CTP) from 2018, which mentions on page 24 (shown below) the plans to improve Church.
Improvements to Church Street are currently on the CTP and I believe easements are being obtained, but residents have no idea when or if this will still happen as has been something that has been "scheduled" for most of the decade. Moreover, as a citizen participating in the breakouts it would be useful information to know before determining what 2030 should look like.
Murray Browne
11 Ole Ansley Court
Decatur, GA 30030
Additions? Clarifications? Email murray.browne905 AT gmail.com