Intersection studies to be performed in downtown Athens
Oct. 17—ATHENS — The city has asked an engineering firm to study five downtown intersections with heavy foot traffic because of concerns that fast-moving vehicles are endangering pedestrians.
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The intersection studies were approved last week by Athens City Council after requests from Athens Main Street and downtown merchants.
"A lot of the residents of North Jefferson (Street) and merchants, and also building owners, have come to me at Athens Main Street and said they really feel like the traffic speed has increased, continues to increase, and they need to look at the way the timing is set on the lights," said Tere Richardson, executive director of Athens Main Street.
The intersection studies will look at Jefferson and Market Street, Jefferson and Washington Street, Houston Street and Market Street, Madison Street and Washington Street, and Madison Street and Market Street.
Jefferson Street is a top priority.
"We've got a high amount of traffic with high speeds, is really the concern, coming down Jefferson," said Michael Griffin, city engineer.
The five intersections selected are popular with pedestrians.
"That's probably our heaviest traveled foot traffic area in town," said Griffin. "Especially around the fall coming up, around Christmas.
"Since there's such a large concentration of pedestrian foot traffic, that gets into a realm of expertise where we have to figure out a way to slow down traffic coming through there but also have enough capability, or capacity, to get most of our (vehicle) traffic through."
According to Griffin, the last downtown traffic study was performed in March 2014. He said when they start noticing the traffic getting bad around certain intersections, they will perform audits.
Richardson said she has been asked to be on a committee that will examine the findings once the studies are complete.
"It's a great step that they're including people that have an interest in downtown," Richardson said.
She said some of the merchants, building owners, and residents have suggested four-way stops might work better than the current traffic signals.
"We've replaced two of the lights with four-way stops on the Marion Street side of The Square and it worked very well," Richardson said, noting the traffic slowed dramatically.
Four-way stops transform traffic, Richardson said, because drivers know they have to stop. Drivers even wave pedestrians across, a stark contrast to speeding vehicles on Jefferson Street.
"They'll wait on you instead of almost running you over, just a block away, because of the light situation," said Richardson.
Besides four-way stops, Richardson said elevated crosswalks could be a possibility to slow down the traffic. She said they could brick the crosswalks to make them more visible. "There's a number of options that they could suggest."
After the council approved the intersection studies, Griffin said he instructed the civil engineering firm, Sain Associates, to begin them. "I'm looking to see a lot of safety improvement recommendations for the pedestrians down here."
According to Griffin, "Some of the implementations could probably be done outside of the street, and some may not be able to be. But we're going to wait until we get the results back."
Richardson said she is confident the intersection studies will help improve safety.
"I know they will suggest some kind of traffic calming there. I'm not sure what it'll be, but the fact that they are looking at it is a great testament to the city listening to its residents and its merchants downtown."
The cost of the studies will be $41,600 and come from the city's capital infrastructure fund.
—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.
