Will pass on to Project Manager

Don’t close this if it isn’t resolved.

Please provide contact information for the project manager and notice of the next city meeting regarding this project so the residents affected by this project can attend to voice their opinions.

Yes needs to stay open until resolved.

I will be delivering flyers to all neighbors on West Howard and all adjoining side streets to organize a community action to demand the street is reconfigured with the lanes moved to the south side of West Howard. We will demand access to all impact studies performed prior to the project approval.

If anyone would like to help me organize this please email me at cmgagnon@gmail.com

Decatur Public Works-S Smith assigned this issue to Decatur Public Works - J Bell

I agree with the suggestions made in this post. Right turns are now impossible without turning into oncoming traffic. At Commerce, MARTA and school busses making the right turn from Commerce onto W Howard now require cars waiting to turn left onto Commerce to back up behind the white stop line in order for the turn to be made. The other alternative is for the busses to "pop the curb" where pedestrians are potentially waiting to cross. Did the planners of this project not think about the MARTA route on W Howard or the numerous school bus routes that need to safely make this turn?

To the other point made in this post, walking on the north side of the street is even more treacherous than it was before. 35+ mph traffic in a very narrow, single lane with minimal or no buffer (the plans show just 3 feet) between the traffic lane and the sidewalk is harrowing for a pedestrian. But it was decided that the sidewalk/PATH trail on the south side of the street gets a 14-18 foot buffer between it and vehicular traffic lanes. Especially before and after school, the north sidewalk is filled with pedestrians - equal weight needs to be given to both sides of the street. Simple solution - put the new bike lanes on the north side of the street to buffer the existing sidewalk. The wide PATH trail remains for pedestrian and bicycle traffic on the south side of the street.

Also, why was the street narrowed so significantly without a reduction in speed limit, which is currently 35 mph? Since city police can't write tickets for less than 11 mph over the limit, drivers are still going 45 mph without any possible consequence (except during school zone hours). For as much lip service as Decatur pays to being pedestrian and bicycle friendly, this project has really failed to improve conditions for anyone.

Another problem experienced on the reconfigured street is in front of the Friends Meeting building where the signs note No Parking Except Sunday on the street. This was ok when there were multiple lanes of traffic in both directions - one lane would be used for parking on Sundays and the other could be used for travel. But now cars can legally park in the single travel lane and block traffic. And they do.

Just noticed a mistake in my original post. Deliveries stop all Westbound traffic in front of the houses, not Eastbound.

Not only are buses a consideration.. pedestrians, bikes, and cars. What about first responders? How do they get through when lanes are blocked and or trying to navigate the corner at Commerce and West Howard I would hate for a house to burn down or someone lose their life because the first responders cannot get through to them.

I do like the new pedestrian crosswalk at Greenwood Circle. Thank you. However, I agree with the comments above. The lane is too narrow and too close the sidewalk without a buffer. When cars turn left off Commerce onto DeKalb they go over the yellow line into oncoming traffic. And,now cars coming from DeKalb turning left onto Commerce back traffic up down DeKalb (they can' t pass on toward McDonough). Further, it was already scary walking west from downtown toward East Lake on the sidewalk due to speeding cards, but now with the lane narrower it is worse. And, there are bushes over hanging the sidewalk in several places. This area is very important for pedestrian safety for the neighborhood and especially the school children who walk this area on a daily basis. Please fix.

Thanks for sharing your experiences on West Howard Avenue. We will continue monitoring pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic in this corridor. These modifications, prompted by citizen requests, were designed considering many factors, like safety for all users, and discussed in multiple public meetings during a yearlong engagement process. Feel free to take a look at posts summarizing this project on the City’s websites:

http://www.decaturga.com/home/showdocument?id=10661

and

http://www.decaturmakeover.com/status-updates/reimagine-west-howard-avenue-starts-week/

When considering input from a diverse citizen group, it is often challenging to reach a solution meeting the needs of everyone using the street. Often, brief adjustment periods are also helpful for users to become accustom to changing traffic patterns. Transformation into a two lane configuration, like many other streets in Decatur, is no exception. Evaluating the effectiveness of this project and how it fits with plans for future work in the area, like the Atlanta Avenue RR Xing improvements, is definitely on our radar.

Many City staff were involved with different aspects of this project. Some helpful contacts are:
Courtney Frisch, Project Manager, Courtney.Frisch@decaturga.com
Jennings Bell, Project Civil Engineer, Jennings.Bell@decaturga.com
David Junger, Public Works Director, David.Junger@decaturga.com

We appreciate your patience with the on-going implementation of the Re-Imagine Howard Avenue project.

Thanks for your comments. To be clear I’m fine with two lanes. It’s mind boggling that anyone would approve a plan to put new bike lanes next to existing bike lanes instead of providing a buffer for the homes. You’ve effectively pushed traffic closer to the people and farther from the train tracks and empty field. I would also point out that nearly all cyclists heading West are still using the single car lane causing further chaos.

Please provide a link to the impact studies performed prior to this project being approved.

I also take issue with Decatur citing public meetings as a way out of bad decisions. I only received a note in my mailbox the week before the work started. If you can provide a flyer prior to work you can provide mailers during planning. Your process is fundamentally broken and has made our street far more dangerous.

Please also provide a date and time for the next meeting you have actually scheduled to address this dangerous change to the street. The residents will not accept “we will continue to monitor this” as an acceptable action item.

Chris Gagnon
325 West Howard Avenue

@J Bell: I completed an online survey about the W Howard project after reviewing a PDF of the plans and expressed concerns at that time about the project pushing all the vehicular traffic to the north side of the street where the sidewalk already has minimal to no buffer from traffic. But based on the PDF you provided, it looks like Decatur only considered input from Chalkboard Voting of PATH Trail users (which is not inclusive of drivers or those that walk along the north sidewalk) along with In Person surveys for a total of just 10 hours over 6 days. And while I frequent the in person survey locations, I would definitely shrug off an attempt to survey my views when I'm on my commute to work via MARTA at E Lake Station. Were the online surveys considered? And based on the PDF you provided, it seems that the road shouldn't be narrowed at all... it is clear that those surveyed just want Food Trucks, Planter Boxes, and a Community Garden (which we actually used to have on W Howard until the High School "paved paradise and put up a parking lot"...)

I am beginning to realize that this project isn't really about making W Howard safer at all. It's about buffering the PATH trail and making a park out of the railroad right of way. When you look at it that way, then you can see why certain decisions were made on this project. To that end, the main part of W Howard has been shoved as far to the north side as possible, despite the danger to pedestrians on the north sidewalk and the fact that busses can't make right turns.

I overall like the change, but some of the criticisms are legitimate. The north shoulder of the road is far too narrow. The southern shoulder is necessary only in instances when someone would need to park their yacht. It honestly looks like a "measure once, let's paint, whoops, whatever" job. I live on W Howard, I walk everywhere, but even I can tell that the worthless 5"-wide north shoulder was not thought out whatsoever.

As far as making a right onto W Howard from side streets, it absolutely can be done with average vehicles. But buses will definitely struggle to do so. The line for the left turn lane at W Howard/Commerce needs to be moved back significantly and the lanes on W Howard all need to be shifted south a bit to make all of this work.

I drive this route infrequently, but from my perspective travel during busy periods appears to be much worse. I know that I can cut through neighborhoods and get to my destination faster, and yesterday it seemed like a lot of other people on now know it too. Not sure what the bike lanes beside existing sparsely used bike lanes is all about.
Perhaps adding a continuous turn lane in the center might help control speed, and not cripple traffic during peak times.

It strikes me that moving the buffer from the south side of the street to the north would solve a lot of the complaints that people have about the new pattern. It would
- allow buses to turn onto W Howard more easily
- allow cars to get out of their driveways more safely
- allow delivery trucks to make deliveries and garbage collection to happen without blocking traffic
- create a buffer between cars and pedestrians on the sidewalk

I have also found that, with how far back the left hand turn lane from W Howard to Commerce is, cars are cutting the corner more, which prevents cars and buses from turning right from Commerce onto W Howard (both with and against the light), thus backing up traffic down Commerce. Again, if the buffer was moved to the north side, buses and cars could make that turn more easily and the left turn lane could be moved up, preventing cutting the corner.

I do have one question about one of the new crosswalks - the one at Atlanta Avenue: is that supposed to be treated as a crosswalk for the intersection (Atlanta Ave) or is it supposed to be treated as/meant to be a mid-block crosswalk? It’s confusing because it starts in the middle of the block on the north side but ends at the light on the south side.

In terms of communications to those impacted: I live in Decatur and use W Howard daily to commute downtown. While I saw announcements regularly asking for input on the new plan, I will admit that I did not participate. I wonder if could Decatur put up signs along W Howard announcing public meetings if there are going to be any additional? Atlanta did that along DeKalb Ave when deciding on the new traffic patterns for that part of the road. That allows those who use the route regularly to participate but who may not live within Decatur. Forgive me if this happened during the first phase, but I don’t remember seeing them.

In addition, could you just make the whole road a school zone? The 50 feet between the end of one and the beginning of the next has never made any sense to me.

Regardless of who voted yay or nay for said plan, the result is what counts. It seems the result of this stripiing is extremely NON-user friendly, It clearly impacts all concerned. Adjustment. Is one thing, yet safety is quite another.
Also for safety the pothole should have been fixed before It was painted.

This area is much safer now that the improvements have been added. I cross W. Howard on foot twice a day, during morning and evening rush hours. It is much safer now. I also frequently drive this stretch of W. Howard and haven't noticed any more congestion. If anything it's better now because people aren't speeding and trying to pass each other.

Close this issue. West Howard feels safer and easier to travel on by car, bike, and foot. Just the other day I saw a family trying to cross mid-block with no crosswalk and cars were driving slow enough to let them pass safely; and the distance the family had to cover was much more manageable with the reduced travel lanes. I can't wait for the landscaping. Thank you City of Decatur for making this stretch more inviting and livable.

Please don’t close other’s issues just because of your opinion. This merits open discussion from the community.

Hi Chris, My apologies for closing your issue. I've driven on the re-striped road and biked on the PATH but never considered how people walking on the northside sidewalk have been affected by the changes. My assumption is that the two-lane conversion would reduce speeding, which the project has personally forced me to do when I drive down the street. The original street design encouraged speeding which probably didn't make the sidewalk anymore comfortable to travel on. I agree that West Howard needs a corresponding reduction in the Speed Limit from 35 to 25 mph and I'll definitely walk the sidewalk to better understand your concerns.

I am a cyclist and motorist and I have to agree with the above comments. First and foremost, I love that this was done. Unfortunately it needs a little tweaking. My biggest concern is the narrow lane/lack of shoulder on the north side. And yes, I am surprised how fast the cars still speed down that road. Per the communications aspect, always a tough one, I would say this was at least much better than the communications about the plan for 400 unit buildings on the East Lake MARTA lot the planning commission approved the other night. Densification.

Reopen. People mistakenly cloaing

I value everyone’s opinion and as a resident of West Howard I actually do support traffic calming, beautification and the other goals of this project.

I stand at Patillo and West Howard every day with my 9 Year old waiting for the bus at 6:30 AM and watch cars rip around Commerce onto West Howard like it’s the Indy 500. While I can get occasional police patrols to happen this issue of serious speeding has not been resolved due to lane narrowing.

Since the restripe I’ve watched delivery trucks pull onto the sidewalk to make deliveries, I’ve watched angry drivers pass each other across the yellow lines and I’ve seen countless cars turn right from side streets and driveways into oncoming traffic. This happens in front of my house all day every day. A head-on collision at speed will end up in one of our yards and given the high volume of walkers (mostly our children) this could be tragic.

This safety issue is my primary concern and why I’m organizing the residents to call for immediate action. Nobody wants a fatality due to poor city planning. I agree that the past isn’t important here. A mistake was made, let’s address it and move forward. Inaction is not going to work here Decatur.

Chris Gagnon
325 West Howard Avenue

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend any of the meetings prior to this development, but I question why other, less drastic measures weren’t taken first, like the installation of pedestrian bridges, or a lowering of a speed limit and an increase in police patrols on the road. It seems like there were many other measures that could’ve been implemented first before the entire structure of the road was changed.

We were promised in the meetings before the re-striping that the city would be closely monitoring the situation. I have seen no indication anywhere of city officials actually out there during the rush hours to see what is happening. That doesn't mean they are not of course but I hope in fact they are really doing so.

The only reason that the Adair road intersection works at all in the worst times is that people completely ignore the striping, thank goodness.

I live on Howard and love the changes! It is so much safer and all of those lanes were a complete waste of space. They’ve even shifted the lanes a bit from the other side of Howard where before cars drove inches from the sidewalk. Great job City of Decatur. Thanks for listening!

Thank you for considering this.

I regularly bike from the Thinking Man to the East Lake Marta station. There is no room to bike westbound on the street (north side) and the sidewalk is poor and not for bikes. It used to be possible to do this (at least there was an extra lane), now it is impossible without biking on the sidewalk or crossing twice in 1/4 mile. Crossing W. Howard only to re-cross it to access MARTA 1/4 mile later is obviously difficult and invites the hazards of crossing W. Howard when I don't have to.

Please restripe to allow flexible room on both north and south sides of W. Howard. An actual bike lane with proper markings would be wonderful where there is space. (Riding along this portion of the PATH is nice during rush hour, but durning non-rush, the smooth asphalt is MUCH preferable to the bumpy/seamed concrete on the PATH. The PATH should have been asphalt, but that ship has sailed.) This undesignated part of the street is confusing to drivers and cyclists and not really safe.

On DeKalb Ave this morning turning left on Commerce. I was far behind the white line for the turn lane and a school bus hopped the curb and barely made the turn without hitting me. I was deliberately far behind the line because everyday on my way home someone is always in front of the line making my turn off Commerce into DeKalb rather difficult. Please at least check the measurements on the lanes. They are too narrow and up against the north sidewalk.

I crossed W. Howard this morning at about 7:45. The situation is much, much better than before -- much safer for everyone. But it's not clear whether there will be a new vertical pedestrians crossing sign in the crosswalk. It would be great to reinstall one. Thank you!

Oops! Forgot to mention -- I crossed at Adair! Thanks for making it so much safer now. Looking forward to seeing the project finished and the final tweaks implemented.

On my commute this morning 8:00-8:10am, I did an informal count of sidewalk usage, north side versus south side. This is likely peak time for students walking to middle and high school. The north sidewalk has significantly heavier usage than the south/PATH sidewalk by a factor of 4! I counted approximately 40 pedestrians on the north sidewalk compared to approximately 10 pedestrians/bicycles on the south sidewalk. I think this lends credence to the backwards and lopsided nature of the striping. Also, my techniques were about as scientific as the ones used by City of Decatur as noted by J Bell above, referring to this link: http://www.decaturga.com/home/showdocument?id=10661

@ShannonHicks I SAW that! I was on the sidewalk waiting on the bus with my 9 yr old bonus daughter!!!!!

It doesn’t take much effort to observe these issues. The resolution is easy: scoot the lanes to the center of the road. This leaves room to still put your new planter pots and benches in the street on the South side (right in front of the existing benches that are in the existing grass if you want). I realize budgeting is a problem as the stripe work has been done; however this is an issue of public safety so it can’t simply be shrugged off. A mistake was made. Own it and fix it.

Has the city coordinated with Decatur PD to actually create a campaign to slow down cars on West Howard or was the intent always to use school buses jumping curbs into speeding oncoming traffic, new empty benches and planters, horrified children and cyclists to act as human shields? When the city chose the name Reimagine West Howard was everyone watching Mad Max?

Seriously, @J Bell will you please provide information on the next public hearing or any action being taken by the city around these massive safety issues? Love it or hate it this change is dangerous and it needs your attention.

Yes, I would love to know about the next public hearing if there will be one.

The Adair intersection will be a complete disaster if people don’t keep ignoring the striping.

Regarding comment on Adair intersection is absolutely correct. There literally no turn lane for Atlantic Ave. From pre stripping observation cars line up for this turn in rush hour. I see it only blocking the thru lane east. How is blocking and slower Traffic a help?? Yes as Pedisterisn it is easier to cross which I appreciate, however with increasing population. ( when Callaway site is complete)this is more hindrance than help. A final. Note... speeders gotta speed ... this will not prevent that. IE human nature

This is now a daily occurrence at Commerce and West Howard. Please shift the lanes to the South side.

Same intersection as pictured above: Today right after I turned right off Commerce onto West Howard a school bus was getting into the turn lane to turn left onto Commerce and the school bus was over the yellow line into my lane. Lanes are too narrow. Please revise them.

I live off of W. Howard and while I think W. Howard needed something to control the speeders, this is not it. I will say that i like the crosswalk at Greenwood Circle. Kids were going to cross there whether it was there or not, but now it seems (marginally) safer. However, turning right from Commerce onto W. Howard is a disaster waiting to happen. I walk to work some days and more than once, while waiting to cross Commerce, pedestrians have had to back WAY up in order to not get hit by school or MARTA buses driving over the curb. As well, one day that I drove to work, a car behind me in the long line of traffic that was stopped at the light on W. Howard (I was all the way back at Greenwood Circle) cut over into the new lane and drove all the way up until the barrels blocked him, then he cut back over into the lane of traffic. It made my blood run cold to think what would have happened if kids had been walking in that lane. I agree with others that if there is going to be a buffer lane, it needs to be on the north side. There's way more foot traffic to school there, there is overgrown shrubbery that makes a narrow sidewalk even narrow, and virtually no curb.
And while there are "improvements" going on, how about a trash can next to the bench on the tracks side of W. Howard? Lots of garbage accumulates between the Valero and that bench (and beyond).

We are still waiting for notification of a city meeting or frankly any action whatsoever on this. Please give us an update on plans to resolve these safety issues.

I live 1 house away from West Howard and regularly use it in every mode possible - car, bike, with a stroller, on foot, etc. The lane reduction has been a godsend. Sounds like we need some work on the intersection with Commerce, and of course the Atlanta Ave intersection re-working that is in progress, but overall I am very pleased. As for speeders on West Howard - yes, it is still possible to speed if there is no one in front of you and you disregard the law. But it is impossible to go faster than the car in front of you. Hence, when there is congestion (aka cars in front of you) one must slow down to the speed of the car in front of you. "Congestion" is a feature, not a bug! Also, the PATH trail is not a bike lane - it is a sidewalk with yellow lines painted on it - not the same thing. The new space functions very well as a protected bike travel lane (and will be better with the concrete planters) and frees up the PATH trail sidewalk for people on foot, with small children, dogs, etc. Win-win.

Jeremy, Please see Pathfoundation.org and you will see that the PATH is very bike centric and was created from a bike point of view.

Is City of Decatur even looking at this anymore? Also, I'll add that I live on W Howard between Greenwood and Patillo and I sure didn't ever get any flyer about this before it happened. I walk everywhere and appreciate the effort, but goodness, shift the lanes southward. We're not asking to turn water into wine here.

I get it, City, it's kind of embarrassing to mess up after a lot of time and effort, but ignoring it doesn't make it go away.

I guarantee this post is monitored even though we are receiving total radio silence from the city. This post and the other discussions on all the other social media platforms seem to tell the same story. The residents want traffic calming and are generally open to two lanes. The current configuration is a failure and has created danger for us all. Move the lanes to the center of the road providing safe biking and walking in both directions. Increase traffic enforcement. I’ve seen no more police presence than before the restripe. Every day I personally witness increasing road rage with people intentionally crossing into oncoming traffic; racing forward to reach turn lanes that are already packed too tightly.

West Howard is used as a thoroughfare by folks who don’t live here to reach the other side of Decatur. We can’t expect commuter traffic to respect our homes; it’s just not realistic. Road configuration and traffic enforcement provides us with this safety net and both are failing at present.

This road is far more dangerous now and the city is quickly reaching a level of gross negligence by simply ignoring the reports. We all screw up sometimes Decatur. Stop hiding from the problem. Own it. Fix it.

I am still struggling to understand why a massive rehaul of the lanes needed to be redone for the sake of slowing down traffic. Is that not the purpose of speed limits? If speed limits aren't being adhered to, post officers along the road and actually enforce them. That seems like it would've been a much easier and better fix than what was done. And Chris, I couldn't have said it better myself. A major thoroughfare through our city cannot function based on the desires of a handful of home owners who live along it (and those of us who walk on it regularly). Traffic should be the primary concern here.

If there ever was a thought that actual experienced traffic flow advice was sought in this enterprise, its been long discredited. The flaws were so obvious from the beginning. Hopefully at some point there will be some serious reconfiguration.

Gale, I am a huge fan of the PATH foundation and the work they do. The Stone Mountain trail was ahead of its time, but that time was 20 years ago. Best practices now include separating bike and pedestrian users whenever possible. If you've ever tried to walk the Beltline during rush hour you know what I mean.

If some of ya'll had attended one of the meetings that were advertised about as robustly as anything I've ever seen for a local road change (and I'm in advertising), you would have heard the reasons why radar enforcement was not feasible, nor was lowering the speed limit per Georgia code. I wonder how many of you have actually read the Reimagine West Howard plan? A lot of this is in there. I can tell based on the comments that most have not.

An earnest attempt to help those with complaints: go to a city commission meeting and speak to the commissioners. It's easy! There's even a super safe way to walk there :)

Jeremy, there's no need to take an attitude with your neighbors here. I would have loved to have attended the meetings, but unfortunately the only two I heard about were right before my wedding, so I was a little busy at the time and couldn't go. As per usual, the communication on the part of the City of Decatur has been mysteriously absent. I recall reading many things about this plan, but nothing about why radar enforcement was not feasible. (I didn't suggest lowering the speed limit.) It would've been helpful for you to include a link to that information though.

The results are that turns now are more hazardous. 1Right turn from Commerce onto Howard. 2 Left turn from Howard onto Atlanta Ave. 3 Right turn from Atlanta Ave onto Howard. 4 Left turn from Adair onto Howard. 5 Left turn from Howard onto Commerce.The move of the crosswalk at Adair to the East makes great sense. However the crosswalk at Commerce and Howard would have benefitted to have been moved East as well. Then the right on red at Commerce and Howard would be less hazardous for the crossers be they pedestrians or cyclists .

This thread has done a good job of resisting the typical internet trolling. We’re all simply looking for a safer city and more response from our city officials. There’s plenty of snark on Facebook for anyone looking for that type of interaction.

This thread has done a good job of resisting the typical internet trolling. We’re all simply looking for a safer city and more response from our city officials. There’s plenty of snark on Facebook for anyone looking for that type of interaction.

This thread has done a good job of resisting the typical internet trolling. We’re all simply looking for a safer city and more response from our city officials. There’s plenty of snark on Facebook for anyone looking for that type of interaction.

@Jeremy - J Bell from Decatur provided some info about the community engagement process for this project.
http://www.decaturga.com/home/showdocument?id=10661
Based on that document, it appears that Decatur provided "Chalkboard Voting" by leaving 3 chalkboards out along the road 24 hours a day for two weeks. Additionally, they stationed surveyors out at locations for 5 two hour periods. From this, it was determined that "Food Truck Park," "Planter Boxes," and "Community Garden" is what people wanted along the W Howard Corridor. "Safer crossings" and "Slow down traffic" weren't in the top 18 of the voting. However, they were called out as "more ideas." From this, it appears Decatur decided to restripe the road.

I don't recall being informed of any public meetings, but I do recall participating in an online survey where I expressed concerns about stacking traffic on the North side of the road and placing bike lanes right beside a bike path. Those survey results don't appear to be anywhere that I can find. I have no problem with shrinking down the road - I walk it all the time - but the implementation was done so poorly that it has created a lot of problems.

There were 3 in-person neighborhood meetings about this. Three. Lasting about and hour and half apiece. In addition to this, there were flyers, emails, social media postings, etc. Sorry you missed them. Not trying to be rude, these are just facts. The "stacking" you refer to is actually the safest configuration according to planning experts and common sense (if the lanes were on the north side, there would be more crossings at intersections, whereas the south side only has the Atlanta Avenue crossing).

It definitely sounds like you're trying to be rude since, as I already very clearly explained to you, I was focusing on my wedding during that time and had very, very few nights where I didn't have something going on. It's great that you seem to have an infinite amount of free time, but not everyone does. I saw the social media postings and flyers, which again, as I clearly stated, made no mention in my memory of why enforcing the existing speed limits wasn't feasible (hence why I asked you for a link which you still haven't given, which I find confusing if it's so easily available). I also voted in the online survey.

I agree, Chris. There is no need for snarking at neighbors regardless of their position on the issues. (Although I am guilty of snarking back.) Whatever happened prior to the changes being made, it's clear there is still a lot of issues that have not been addressed, so I think it would be best if COD made an effort to have at least one meeting on the subject.

We all have a little snark. The fact is I live at 325 West Howard. This is the epicenter of the project. The first notice I ever received was the day before construction started. The past is the past and is frankly irrelevant. Time to fix the issue.

My apologies. Congrats on the wedding. Should we start a new thread to fix the issue of public meetings that conflict with nupitals? I can do it, I have free time.

So I missed the in person meetings, therefore my opinion doesn't matter? That isn't the way government is supposed to work. I was aware of the project. I did fill out a City of Decatur online survey and expressed my opinion about the project. That opinion included the exact concerns a large number of people have expressed here and on Nextdoor. Generally, I'm concerned that those survey results didn't seem to go anywhere or get acknowledged by Decatur. I can't find the results of the survey anywhere.

I'm not a traffic planning expert, but I do have common sense. And common sense tells me that placing a narrowed, highly trafficked vehicle lane right on top (a 3' buffer per the plans) of a pedestrian sidewalk which is heavily utilized is not the safest configuration. The North sidewalk is most heavily utilized before and after school hours with students - much higher traffic than the South PATH trail during those times.

I'm checking out of this thread, but trust me I didn't set out to pick on anyone. I'm sure the traffic engineer and/or city personnel will address these concerns (one or two I agree with!) at some point. And I'd be glad to discuss any of this in person. For anyone interested: GA law requires a minimum unobstructed distance and grade for police to conduct radar enforcement of vehicle speeds, a minimum that could only be satisfied under the previous road configuration by camping out in the Quaker meeting hall parking lot. They did not wish to allow this (not sure how to phrase it, but they asked that the city not do it, and the PD agreed) so radar enforcement was basically impossible. Also, GA law requires a speed study to be conducted in order to lower the limit below 35. The city can lower the POSTED limit, but in doing so would forfeit its right to enforce said lower limit. As is, they can (assuming they have the minumum sight distance) enforce the 35pmh and pull you over for exceeding it by only 1mph. The new configuration added on-street parking in front of the meeting hall so now Decatur PD can post up there if they so desire. Might have some of the nitty gritty jumbled up, but that's what I remember from the meetings - one of Decatur's finest was there to answer questions and this is what he told us.

At one point (a number of years ago) the speed limit on W Howard was 30mph. Decatur then raised it to 35mph. Was this because 30mph was unenforceable? I just googled and found this:
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2010/03/16/west-howard-avenue-speed-limit-going-back-up-sorta/

An interesting quote:
"The move was made with the express intent that the city would now begin strongly enforcing the speed limit in the West Howard corridor."

Obviously, that never happened.

With the new road diet configuration, 35mph is way too fast for conditions, even when there's no traffic. When I drive it, 25-30mph "feels" safe in the car, much to the chagrin of whoever is tailgating me because I'm not going 10 over the limit. I hope Decatur puts a plan in the works to officially lower the enforceable speed limit.

Yes Jon, that was the reason - to have a limit that was actually enforceable. And I believe the church parking lot was really the only suitable place to do it but the church objected, which is why we haven't seen the enforcement happen. There IS a plan to lower the limit on west howard and elsewhere in decatur, see here: https://decaturish.com/2018/04/decatur-city-commission-considering-25-and-30-mph-speed-limit-on-more-than-a-dozen-residential-streets/
This is what I was thinking of earlier - the ability to write tickets for 1mph over as opposed to 10mph

It seems to me then that the law should've been changed to allow police officers to cite drivers at a lower limit rather than reconfigure the entire road. (I think 1 MPH over would've been excessive though; I would suggest 5.)

I wish W Howard was on that list of streets they are considering for a Residential Speed Zone. I could get on board with the 35mph limit if 36mph was ticket-able.

Thanks to all for the healthy debate regarding the Reimagine West Howard Avenue project. This project started at the request of numerous residents who were concerned over vehicular speeds along the corridor and the difficulty for pedestrians, specifically Safe Routes to School students, to cross four lanes of speeding traffic. The City worked with a transportation design and engineering firm to develop ways to improve the bicyclist and pedestrian safety as well as slow traffic along the West Howard Avenue corridor.

Numerous community meetings were held with city residents at the Friend’s Meeting facility before recommending a final plan for construction before the City Commission. It was our intent to develop a semi-permanent solution knowing that we were going to be working on a re-design of the intersection of Atlanta Avenue / Howard Avenue / College Avenue. The most important goal of the plan is to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians throughout the corridor.

Public Works staff have spent many hours, during peak and non-peak hours, observing and monitoring the bike, pedestrian and vehicular traffic since the road diet and lane shift was implemented. The road diet has slowed traffic and pedestrians seem able to more safety cross West Howard Avenue at three midblock locations.

In reading through the thread, there seem to be a variety of concerns regarding the implementation of the project:

North side buffer – The buffer was added at the request of many residents from the first public meeting. The buffer now provides a safer feel to pedestrians walking along the northern sidewalk. The buffer was not widened so as to not give cyclists the impression this buffer would be a bicycle lane. Through the planning process it was determined that the safest location for cyclists would be on the existing Stone Mountain Path as each driveway along the northern side is its own vehicle/bicycle conflict point.

Adair leg of the Atlanta Avenue intersection – We recognize that driving behavior does not follow the current configuration of the right turn lane. We have reached out to the striping contractor for modifications to be made to the right turn lane. Whatever modifications are made must not impact the safety of pedestrians in the Adair Street crosswalk as the most important goal of the plan is to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety throughout the corridor.

Speed Limit – At this time the speed limit is posted at 35 mph. Once the project is complete, a speed and volume study will be conducted to determine the new 85th percentile of speeds. Any speed limit reduction must be approved by GDOT and validated by a speed study. As presented in the City Speed Limit Study and Proposal, the goal is to reduce the posted speed to an enforceable 30 mph.

Public Notification – The City posts notifications of community meetings on the City website and its social media channels. Yard signs are also posted along corridors or in study areas for transportation projects and community meetings. For up to date information regarding transportation projects please subscribe to The Decatur Minute Blog at http://thedecaturminute.com/ and the Decatur Makeover webpage at http://www.decaturmakeover.com/.

City staff is continuing to evaluate the road diet and will adjust if necessary to improve traffic management through the corridor.

Hello DecaturPM,

Thanks for re-engaging on this topic thread. Please provide a link to all of the impact studies performed prior to the work and to the monitoring by city employees you refer to that has occurred post work. The people on this thread live here. We walk, cycle and drive this stretch of road every day at all hours. We’d like to know who, where and when observers were present and we’d like to see all notes related to their observations. As this is a city project all of this should be readily available. Your results do not match our daily experiences.

Please also provide the date and time of the next public meeting scheduled to address this project, specifically safety issues such as cars and school buses that cannot turn right into the narrow lanes of West Howard, the scarce placement of the handful of ‘buffer zones’ on the North side, delivery trucks that now either park on the North sidewalk or stop all Westbound traffic and the now daily occurrences of cars intentionally crossing yellow lines to race around the chaos.

While some residents may be interested in the history of this project the majority are looking for information on the future of the project. And while we appreciate information on how Decatur generally posts public meetings we’d rather know exactly when the next meeting is so we can discuss this in person.

Thanks again for your response.

Well said Chris. Thank you.

The new striping is such an improvement over the previous situation. When driving on W Howard I really appreciate the single lane with turnlanes. It's very smooth, and I've noticed no slowdowns at all. It's a relief not to have people passing me in the extra lane in a place so many students walk and people ride. As a pedestrian, I'm relieved not to feel I may die every time I try to cross Howard. Thank you to the City for working on this. There are still some adjustments to make, but it's a clear improvement.

I live on Adair near W. Howard. My street is a major cut through street, and I frequently need to get across the tracks to a school. It is terribly difficult to turn left there, and cars drive very fast down the street. I like that there is a turn lane onto Adair, but I do not understand why reconfiguring this intersection was not part of this project. I understand it is coming up, but it is a terribly dangerous and highly used intersection. Also, it is very difficult to see oncoming traffic from both directions because of corner vegetation. I am also puzzled as to why there isn't a wider lane on the sidewalk, north side of the street where I was told there needed to be slower traffic. I agree with others that I've not seen a slowdown in traffic. I HAVE noticed it is more difficult to get out of the street now.

This chaos is now a daily occurrence on West Howard. Notice the cars driving ON THE SIDEWALK to get around the bus that is attempting to cross the tracks to College. DECATUR, FIX THIS NONSENSE! The inaction by the city is completely unacceptable!

While driving East on Howard to go left on Commerce wednesday 8:20 AM I saw a driver who did not want to wait in the back-up and simply drove inside the barriers next to the south sidewalk to go straight on Howard. This design has not stopped bad driving behavior, it has only increased it.

I would like to echo the comments wondering if there could be an adjustment to allow for a wider gap between the northern sidewalk and the northern most lane. Moving the traffic away from the sidewalk and allowing a larger gap for bicycles to share the road would both serve the stated goals of the project. As it stands now, pedestrians on that sidewalk can just about reach out and touch the cars whizzing by, and the street is even more unfriendly to bikes. Using the PATH on a bike makes sense, unless you are trying to access the Eastlake MARTA station from anywhere north of the tracks, which now requires crossing W Howard twice.

Please do consider adjusting the lanes. Keeping it narrowed is fine, just don't route the lanes right next to the sidewalk. There is plenty of road to have nice wide buffers on both the north and south sides.

I think our collective comments/concerns have fallen on deaf ears. It appears Decatur has decided to move forward with the existing striping since they are now beginning to install the colorful "faux-median" planter boxes to replace the orange construction barrels separating the vehicle lanes from the bike area/PATH area on the south side of the street. Oh, well.

The planter in the pedestrian crosswalk at Drexel and Howard will only serve to block the view of people crossing from East bound traffic. Really, you need a planter in the middle of the road? I agree, City govt. is ignoring our comments and request. What I've seen as the one request with the most support is to move the lanes more southward but it looks like they're going to keep them the way they are since they're putting the ugly planters down

Our comments aren’t falling on deaf ears. They are being read and ignored. What the folks running this disastrous project need to understand is we are just getting started. The community will continue to seek access to records and impact studies (which were probably never formally or properly performed given the cavalier responses from city officials).

Decatur, you made our street less safe and now you are making it look like a cartoon nightmare. Get your heads out of the sand. We aren’t going away.

Hmm, yes. I would love to know what impact studies were done and by whom,.

A complete waste of tax payers’ money and example of bureaucratic corruption, in my opinion. I’m hopeful that Chris Gagnon will be able affect a change. Let me know if I can help.

In my experience change only happens when we don't quit. I'm happy to spend the time and effort to carry this forward but change will only happen if I'm representing a coalition of residents, commuters and business owners.

Given the lack of serious response or communication from the city I suspect this is somebody's pet project that is being forced through with the hope that nobody pushes the issue. Somebody picked the plastic planters. Somebody picked the Miami Vice colors. Somebody is managing the budget and somebody selected the vendors executing the work. I suspect these detailed decisions weren't made by the city council and I know the residents weren't notified or given a forum to express our opinions because I live at ground zero and have been actively protesting this project from day one.

At a minimum we need to shine the light of day on this project to determine who is actually behind it. The city repeating ad nauseum that it was requested by 'a group of residents' doesn't hold water. We have the right to know who, when and how. We have a right to see all formal impact studies (spoiler alert Decatur, we already know you didn't do any). We have a right to review studies determining the city's liability for traffic accidents and lost business from the resulting traffic chaos (see spoiler alert above). We have the right to know how every decision was made at every stage and who made them.

At a minimum we will figure out who is really behind the project, who in city government decided they were in a position to make these decisions on behalf of the residents, why formal studies weren't done, why residents are being placated and ignored and why the project simply continues forward with no regard to the local residents identifying credible and serious safety issues.

If you want to help you can send me your pictures of the traffic chaos during morning and afternoon rush hours, buses and trucks attempting impossible turns on to West Howard, and reports of unsafe experiences. You can also email me your name and address to add to the list of coalition members. It's easy for the city to ignore one person. It's hard for them to ignore a majority. I'm pulling together a site for people to sign-up for the coalition but for now you can send info to me at cmgagnon@gmail.com

Should we also send pictures of our children safely crossing the road, which is now 2 lanes instead of 4? Or pleasantly biking down the new lane? Or walking on the PATH and not worrying about a car hopping the curb or our kid darting into the road? Or choosing to walk/ride a bike when we used to choose to drive?

I've voiced my opinion here already, but I am curious Jeremy: how does the new layout of the road stop the potential of your kid darting into traffic or a car hopping the curb? And how many times did those things happen prior to the changes? I ask because I hear these concerns voiced a lot, and yet I don't recall hearing many (or any) stories of children or pedestrians being killed on that stretch of road before.

I agree with you that adding crosswalks was the one piece of the project that works. I'm not personally interested in the walk/drive/bike debate. I'm interested in solving the newly created safety issues. My family (including my children) walks, bikes and drives on West Howard every day. This road is more dangerous now. I'd like to see a safer experience for all of us. It doesn't take much time walking on West Howard to see that traffic is neither slower nor less dense.

The key is the added buffer between cars and people. If you are on the PATH trail on the south side of the tracks, there is now an additional 10 feet of space where there used to be just a straight drop to the curb with cars doing 45+ whizzing by. Large vehicles were so close to the road their sideview mirrors were literally crossing the plane over into the sidewalk. And I did have a close call once on West Howard. An SUV swerved suddenly for some reason and lost control, popped up and over the PATH trail and hit a tree. I was with my then 3 year-old. And hopefully with these changes you never will hear of any pedestrian deaths, as there are and continue to be a lot more on the roads, both drivers and pedestrians.

I would add that the apparent random placement of the planters in the crosswalks and along the side of the south lane appear to make crossing less safe. In the week the planters have appeared I've watched cars nearly strike them every single afternoon. They aren't concrete and they aren't secured with pilings. When a car hits them any unfortunate pedestrians nearby will in danger from flying plastic shrapnel. This seems to be the poor person's version of the actual concrete path installed on McDonough in front of the high school. It also looks ridiculous. We can fantasize that this somehow creates a bike/walk lane but in reality it simply looks like what it is: plastic planters sitting in the street. Classy Decatur...

I was mostly just suggesting that I don't know that these changes were necessary when, from what I can tell, pedestrian safety didn't seem to be a big issue before. I don't use W Howard as much as I used to, but as someone who used to walk along the road daily, I never felt unsafe when following the traffic laws, like crossing at appropriate places and waiting for the right signals. I thought maybe you knew something I didn't, but it still doesn't seem like there had been any serious accidents on that road prior to these changes, although that doesn't change anything about the current situation. Again, just curious if you knew stories I was unaware of. ("Close calls" occur on any road, and as Chris has pointed out, there is still danger with the current structure.) I think the best thing to do moving forward would be to have more public meetings about how to correct the issues that residents have with the road now, but it doesn't seem like CoD is interested in that, which is frustrating.

@Jeremy - I agree with you about the buffer between cars and people. It's great that the south side/PATH trail is now nicely buffered with 10 feet of asphalt and pastel planter boxes. But the north side now has nothing - all traffic is crammed into a single, very narrow lane right on top of the curb and sidewalk. The safety of the north sidewalk has been sacrificed for a huge buffer for the south sidewalk. And my non-scientific study (similar to Decatur's study on this project) indicates that the north sidewalk is much more heavily used during peak hours (when students are walking to/from school). But based on Decatur's own published documents about the studies done for this project - the only ones I've seen and that Decatur has provided - http://www.decaturga.com/home/showdocument?id=10661 - indicate this project is NOT about safety. The safety priorities are way down the list in the "more ideas/honorable mention" category. The top three priorities for this project are: Food Truck Park, Planter Boxes, and Community Garden. So consider one of those priorities completed - we have some really awesome pink planter boxes with twigs stuck in them! Let's wait and see how the local restaurants feel when the low-overhead food trucks roll up during lunch and dinner time and steal that business from the restaurants that have made a long-term commitment (in the form of a lease and utilities) to our area.

Chris, this was the idea: a temporary ("poor person's) buffer until the final road configuration was completed. Look at what the McDonough project cost vs this one. Personally, I would have chosen a different (and single) color. But I'm not sure what we can do about cars hitting stuff that is just sitting there in the road. Maybe give them a ticket/take their license? Don't we already do that?

Jon, those are the results of the chalkboard surveys for what to do with the space between the tracks and the street, it was not about why to do the project in the first place. The reason was always: safety. It was about 90% of what was discussed at all 3 meeting I attended with city officials.

@Jeremy - Decatur won't provide any documentation about the results of voting at in-person meetings or the results of the online survey that I (and others) completed about the project. The only document I have seen outlining the priorities for the project that Decatur has provided is the one I referenced. So I can only assume, given the lack of other documentation, that these are the official priorities for the project. If you have other documentation, I'd love to see it. This whole thread would love to see it. But the only thing we've gotten is what I linked.

If safety was indeed the concern… It is not the result. It is definitely not the result. The reality of the design is not safer.

I just tried to link 3 documents but the site thinks it is spam. If you are looking for like a ballot recount there wasn't a "vote" per se, just people showing up and talking. But the city has had a long term plan since at least 2010 to encourage more biking/walking and making roads like West Howard safer in order to accomplish that. It's in the 2010 Strategic Plan and pretty much every document released since then.

Gale, you keep saying that but my experience is just totally contrary. It is so much safer!

Jeremy, we can post here until we’re all blue in the face but it’s the city’s responsibility to execute impact studies based on actual data. This hasn’t been done and no amount of rhetoric will change this fact.

Regardless of anyone’s individual opinion of the project it’s clear there is enough dissatisfaction to warrant a public forum. I’m happy to meet with officials but it will only be to gather information and a precursor to demanding a public forum.

City commission schedule is posted online and public comment is offered every time! Live-streamed and archived.

Has anyone considered whether how emergency vehicles will be able to make their way down West Howard with the reduction of 4 to 2 lanes (I was in standstill traffic on two different mornings where I watched ER vehicles try to navigate--a disaster). Additionally, how is the environment/air quality affected by standstill traffic on West Howard? Aren't there better options to protect pedestrians without having to deal with the additional pollutants?

How can I get copies of traffic studies, impact studies or other analyses conduct prior to this traffic changes?

It’s clear from the city’s lack of response to questions about basic studies that they didn’t complete any. I don’t think there’s a conspiracy to screw up our roads. I think we have people in positions who are not completing the diligence necessary to assure a safe infrastructure. It’s amateur hour in the city planner’s office and the actual residents of this city are both picking up the tab and living with the resulting chaos.

Chalkboard surveys and unofficial ‘checks’ to assure that things are better now makes it sound like our city is being run by volunteers instead of full-time employees.

Good luck trying to manage this through proper channels. What we need is a wholesale removal of every city employee responsible for the planning, execution and inept post-project response related to this dangerous, ugly, unwanted disaster.

I really appreciate most of the changes. The cross walks are much better and it’s much less scary to cross 2 lanes of speeding traffic than 4. BUT, there really isn’t enough of a buffer between the houses/sidewalk and the street. If they’re worried about cyclists mistaking the extra area for a bike lane then put diagonal lines in the buffer or something to illustrate that bikes should stay near the path for safety. Turning left off Adair has always been bad. Anyone who claims that it was better before has a short memory. There’s just way too much going on with traffic and people turning off of Atlanta Ave and pedestrians. At least now the people turning off Atlanta Ave onto Dekalb are farther away from Adair. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still awful, but it’s awful in some ways that are slightly better. I really hope the reinvisioning of Atlanta Ave goes better and makes it all meld because it’s an improvement, but it still has a lot of problems.

Different road, but I would also love to see whatever traffic study was conducted for the nightmare changes in front of Agnes Scott. The traffic at E College and McDonough is terrible now that they’ve instituted a left turn only lane.

Issue 5088298 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

And now you’ve added plastic reflective tape to every few plastic planters. Good job making this street look like a joke. Also your plastic planters keep getting hit or shifted into the street and crosswalks. And strangely these random ones that are IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD don’t have reflective tape. Clearly there is NO PLANNING happening in the City Planners Office. Please do your damn jobs. Please explain how you think this is safer Decatur. Time to own your mistakes.

And now you’ve added plastic reflective tape to every few plastic planters. Good job making this street look like a joke. Also your plastic planters keep getting hit or shifted into the street and crosswalks. And strangely these random ones that are IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD don’t have reflective tape. Clearly there is NO PLANNING happening in the City Planners Office. Please do your jobs. Please explain how you think this is safer Decatur. Time to own your mistakes.

Now that the barrels are gone the east bound lane at the MARTA station that narrows to one lane has created a game of chicken with drivers trying to cut in at the last minute. I’ve nearly had my bumper ripped off 3 times now by people trying to cut me off when I’m the one maintaining my lane - not the one cutting over from the right lane. They need big white arrows in the road from the railroad crossing all the way to the taper at the light at Paden.
I have to agree that the whole “planter” situation looks stupid and ill conceived.. The reflectors look cheap, the planters look cheap, the stick trees are dead.
Is this really a reflection of City of Decatur?
Really - just take it all away and go back to two lanes. We NEED two lanes. Morning and evening commutes are horrible and the traffic has not “calmed” one bit.
Big waste of our tax dollars.

To Monty's point about the right lane ending at/around E Lake MARTA, there needs to be warning. GDOT standards require it. See here, look in Section 5: http://www.dot.ga.gov/PartnerSmart/DesignManuals/smguide/GDOT_Signing_and_Marking_Guide_printerfriendly.pdf

There should be three signs leading up to the right lane ending:
W20-5AX (1500 FT) – Right/left lane ends in 1,500 feet
W9-1X – Right/left lane ends
W4-2X – Graphical right/left lane ends

I've done your work for you, Decatur. Please install these signs.

I'm not sure where the liability lies should an accident occur in this situation where the signage is missing and/or non-standard. Decatur might have liability, which means our tax dollars are at risk.

City crews have removed the midblock planters and are installing pedestrian paddles at all the midblock crosswalks now. We have reached out to the contractor to install the appropriate right lane ends signage west of the Paden Circle intersection. Thank you for your comments.

Thank you for the positive response and progress. It’s nice to see some sections of the street looking normal again. When can we schedule a meeting to address the remaining planters? They are just as dangerous along the south lane as they were in the middle of the road. I look forward to continued collaboration.

On speaking with the owner of Valero I believe it is imperative to now remove the plastic planters from in front of his store. I’ve personally watched cars bump them, push them and cause near accidents during rush hour simply attempting to get into the gas station. Given that this is also a walking path this is very dangerous. Will you please consider the danger and now remove the four or five planters you’ve placed there?

Removing the planters would make it less safe for people/bikes on the path. The planters give vehicles and pedestrians clear visual cues about where to be - I feel much safer when I'm walking through there now than I did before. I wish the PATH didn't have to go through a gas station parking lot at all, but since it does I think the barriers are a good measure - at least until they redo the entire intersection, which will take several years.

Pedestrians and people on bikes had both been hit by cars multiple times at this intersection near the Valero before they installed the planters. I would much rather have the occasional inattentive driver hit an inanimate object (planter) than a human being.

Jeremy, do you have links to stories about those hit? I don't recall hearing about those.

Disagree. The day glow planters are a visual distraction that make it more likely that a pedestrian will be hit. It’s the exact same reason Decatur took them out of the crosswalks.

Now that Decatur is reviewing state law regarding signage and taking an objective view of these safety issues the city is making reasonable safe decisions. I applaud the city for owning the issues and making the necessary improvements.

https://decaturish.com/2017/10/cyclist-taken-to-hospital-after-being-hit-at-west-howard-and-atlanta-avenue/

Yeah I’d like to see some supporting facts on that statement. I’ve been in Decatur 15 years and haven’t heard of any pedestrians or cyclists hit at Valero. I’ll ask Davis about it. He’d certainly know as the owner of the gas station.

Thanks for the link, although it's important to point out that in that one story, the accident occurred as the cyclist was crossing an intersection, and from what I can see, that doesn't seem to have much relevance to the planter issue here since cars and bikes are still crossing at that same location. I may be misunderstanding something though, in which case feel free to correct me.

Tragic but that’s not at Valero. That was someone turning onto Atlanta Avenue. We are talking about the chaos of cars attempting to enter the gas station.

The implication is that the planter me somehow protect people walking or riding the path at the gas station entrance. The planters make it harder to see people there. They need to be removed.

Hey Decatur. Can you install the new crosswalk paddle signs on the multiple crosswalks on Atlanta Avenue? This would help cyclists and pedestrians avoid the accident that Jeremy posted. Thanks Jeremy for pointing this out.

While we’re requesting things, how about some diamond pedestrian crosswalk signs on either side of the cross walks where the paddle signs were just installed. This would further increase visibility and awareness for drivers about these new crosswalks. And adding pedestrian activated strobes like on College in front of Agnes Scott would be ideal.

Totally agree, Jon. Standard signage and improved crossing lights are a fantastic idea. Drivers inherently know what these things mean and as such safety is increased. Pedestrian safety on a busy road isn’t an area to get creative with colors, shapes and art.

I would love more crossings like the one at Agnes Scott. The flashing lights have been very effective in my experience.

I haven't seen the "pedestrian-activated strobes" on College, but sounds like a great idea. The pedestrian-activated lights at the crosswalks on Buford Hwy. can't be missed--they're traffic lights hung across the crosswalk, and repeatedly flash yellow, then red, then green, allowing pedestrians plenty of time to cross. Is this what's on College?

@LJackson - the Agnes Scott/College pedestrian crossing doesn't have a HAWK signal (like some of the crossings on Buford Hwy or Ponce in Atlanta). It has a regular diamond yellow pedestrian crossing warning sign on both sides of the street. And there are pedestrian-activated (with a push button) strobe lights that flash under the signs to alert drivers that a pedestrian is crossing/trying to cross. It works fairly well for crossing a 2-lane road. I think it's a good first step for W. Howard at the new crosswalks.

Anyone know why there is still only one sign - behind another no less - saying that the right lane is ending as you move from DeKalb Ave onto W. Howard at the MARTA station? As someone above pointed out there are supposed to be three and there is currently only 1 and it is almost completely hidden behind another sign - you can’t see it until you are almost on top of it (as the lane is ending). There are also no street markings. It’s a daily occurrence that people don’t know the lane is ending is shift lanes quickly cutting people off.

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It also doesn't help that there is a large arrow pointing straight in the west bound curb lane just before the sign comes up indicating the lane ends. Very confusing

Okay, it's been months and I'm confident in my first assessment of all this as a daily pedestrian from the Greenwood/W Howard area to East Lake MARTA and sometimes Decatur MARTA instead. The northern buffer between cars and sidewalks is insufficient. I don't feel safer. I almost got run over by a car while on the sidewalk at Commerce/W Howard because people are blitzing that right turn so hard they drive up on the sidewalk regularly. I also get absolutely tsunami'd on rainy days because cars are splashing up the water a couple inches away from me. This is just ridiculous.

How about this, City, if you are truly this bent on people the southern sidewalk, install a pedestrian bridge or tunnel between the north and south sidewalks East Lake MARTA station, others all around the W Howard/Atlanta/Adair Triangle of Doom, then again at the corner of Greenwood and W Howard, and finally at Commerce/W Howard. Or....just repaint the lines.

@Victoria Ferreira - I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.

@DecaturPM - Whatever you think about the complaints of people regarding the planters, this is a legitimate safety issue and is currently violating GA DOT regulations. Please either have the old contractor fix it or hire a new one.

Lucy has a very good point about the north side sidewalk from Chief Mathews all the way to the high school. There is not any safety margin for walkers. Many kids ride their bikes on this side of the sidewalk so they don't have to cross busy W. Howard. Unfortunately, the kids are not pedestrian friendly at all.
Why not get rid of the planters and move the whole lane structure SOUTH and give a better margin on the north side of the street.
Also -
I seems since the restructuring of the lanes to a single lane each direction has only made drivers more hostile. Traffic is denser and the crossing at Atlanta Ave really messed up so drivers are all hyped up and pushy.

Yes, Lucy. Exactly what you said. The reduction to two lanes is fine. But if the road could just be re-striped to give a buffer (bike lane width?) to the northern edge sidewalk. There still would be room to keep the planters (as unpopular as they are with some) if we don't want to get rid of perfectly good weird gem-tone plastic planters that we just bought.

So I just wanted to add one more voice in support of re-striping to make the north edge sidewalk more usable for walkers, and the westbound lane safer for everyone.

One more piece of information. According to this 11Alive report citing City of Decatur numbers, the re-striping contractor cost $163,000. (Planters were $118,000.) I imagine the City has the budget to pay for another re-striping to give the north edge sidewalk a little more room. Just making that change alone would satisfy a lot of the people who have commented here.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/decatur/driving-hazard-or-pedestrian-protection-decatur-planters-stir-passionate-debate/85-843c6ae8-1336-4966-8926-d3f562474d36

Thank you. Email cara.scharer@decaturga.com with any questions.