Video of meeting will be held at 7 pm at the link below.
http://p2c.dunwoodyga.gov/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=489&doctype=AGENDA
Below is the Presentation to the Dunwoody Homeowners Association a couple of weeks ago where there was a lively discussion regarding the proposed curb cut on Ashford Dunwoody.
2 comments:
John:
I voted to oppose the curb cut at the DHA board meeting. On another subject, you heard my pitch about the Womack road widening and I would really like you to come see it soon -- I think you should be more willing to make exceptions to the bike lane (I mean complete streets) policy. ((some really good young, local bands performed at Lemonade Days -- we should hear of Already Taken and The Affected again!))
Do you have an opinion about bike lanes in Dunwoody? Pro or con or mixed, I invite you to come see the sidewalk project behind my house on Womack Road to see what our city council’s devotion to bike lanes can cause.
The sidewalk project started on March 19th. Yesterday on April 22d when the contractor started pouring curbs we were able to see that all the clearing and site prep and work for the last month has been to widen the street for bike lanes. We knew that the project included road widening and I appeared before the city council asking them to give us the sidewalk without the road widening. I said at the time that it would save money and now we know that for sure.
Behind our house is the widest part of Womack Road. When DES was built, a third lane, a turn lane was painted into the road – there was already enough asphalt. Drop-off drivers use that turn lane for a half hour or less every school morning. When the city decided to add a sidewalk on the north side of Womack from Lakeland Woods Ct to the sidewalk at Oakhurst Walk, the “complete streets” program kicked in. A complete street in our city includes sidewalks on both sides and bike lanes on both sides. The widest part of Womack Rd is not wide enough for three full lanes and two bike lanes. With no curb already built and plenty of city right-of-way, the sidewalk project was planned to include road widening of at least 5 feet.
The picture shows the project area on Womack Road looking east.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/109944599259155096953/posts/AdF1kLF2vF2
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c91rnza12xieffl/IMAG0074.jpg
Nutty, hunh?!
Pro:
· City is committed to “complete streets” and wants to be consistent.
· The many bicyclists who currently comfortably and safely bike this section will now have great elbow room.
Cons:
· More expensive. They have been working a month just to widen the road. (some culvert work too, I'll concede that)
· Reduces quality of life of three families by reducing buffer width and bringing traffic closer to their back yards.
· Possibly more speeding. The project widens the widest section of the straightest road in the city; it is a section that already sees plenty of speeding.
· Will possibly attract unsafe driving behaviors. I am worried about what drivers will do during the before and after school times when the area is most congested with traffic. Give drivers a few more feet of asphalt to work with and maybe they will be trying to scoot around stopped cars, right in the vicinity of walking students and parents.
Right now before they knock down a bunch of bamboo behind my house to put in the sidewalk is when you can most easily see how unnecessary this road widening is. Come by and see. Call me at 770-639-7271 cell or 770-671-0863 home and I’ll come look at the project with you. Email is skbarton13 somewhere near gmail.com. I think the city council should have made an exception in this case IN MY BACKYARD (caps to show you I know this is in part a NIMBY issue) to their full commitment to bike lanes that are really exercise lanes. I want to know what you think.
-- Steve Barton
Wow - not sure how the safety of our kids getting to school, offering a means for the kids to use their bikes or feet to get there and providing traffic calming solutions for the school zone can be compromised by exceptions. Unfortunately, Dunwoody inherited an infrastructure that does not promote safe, connected routes for alternative transportation due to the closed minded leaders of the past and unfortunately we are still handicapped by this same type of thinking in our own city. I suggest looking at the street from our children's eyes and embrace the changes and results demonstrated around the Austin Elem. school.
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