Traffic calming reduces car volume on Lawrence and Washington, but sidewalk improvements remain elusive

Jul. 7—Measures to reduce traffic on Lawrence Street and Washington Avenue in Marietta have proved effective, city staff told the City Council recently, but securing funding to overhaul sidewalks and repave streets in the area remains an elusive goal for Councilman M. Carlyle Kent.

In September 2020, the council approved traffic calming measures to reduce speeding on Lawrence and Washington between Cole and Fairground streets — adding speed bumps, driver feedback signs (which tell people how fast they're going) and converting the streets to one-way traffic.

The measures were pushed by then-Councilman Reggie Copeland, who had heard complaints of speeding from residents.

In the spring of 2021, however, the plans to make Lawrence one-way going westbound and Washington one-way going eastbound sparked an uproar. The council later reversed course on the one-way measures, but kept the speed bumps and driver feedback signs.

At a June 29 committee meeting, Public Works Director Mark Rice said that one year on, the measures that were implemented have cut traffic volume in half.

Lawrence Street, which saw a daily volume of 1,650 vehicles before the traffic calming measures, now sees a daily volume of 834 vehicles. On Washington Avenue, the daily volume has gone down from 762 vehicles to 382 vehicles.

Average speeds have also gone down slightly — from 32 mph to 30 mph on Lawrence, and from 33 mph to 31 mph on Washington.

"It does appear that the installed traffic calming measures that we did put on those two streets are working and are slowing down the traffic and reducing the amount of volume that are using these streets," Rice said.

Asked where those cars have gone, Rice said they should be using the wider, higher-speed streets nearby, which don't cut through residential neighborhoods.

"I hope they're using the proper streets ... Hopefully they're using Fairground and Roswell as they should be using that, and not using those (Lawrence and Washington) as a cut-through," Rice said.

Given the success of the measures taken, Rice doesn't have any further recommendations for traffic calming on the two streets.

Sidewalk dilemma

In addition to speeding concerns, residents have complained that the narrow width of the streets, coupled with aging sidewalks, make walking a treacherous activity. The area is located just east of downtown and, due to its historic character, has streets that are just 30-feet wide.

Throughout the debate, staff have also said that Washington Avenue would be particularly difficult to alter, due to the adjacent Marietta National Cemetery.

At the request of Kent, who succeeded Copeland and now represents the area, Rice presented a few options to improve sidewalks on Lawrence, but funding such a project would be challenging.

"Because of the increased cost of materials ... the cost of the sidewalk projects have increased approximately $300,000 over this past year," Rice said.

One option would be to replace the existing 4-foot sidewalk on the north side of Lawrence with a new, 5-foot sidewalk. The existing 4-foot sidewalk on the south side of the street would remain in place. That option is estimated to cost between $1.5 and $1.75 million, but Rice said that price doesn't include any potential costs of utility relocation, right-of-way purchase or construction easements.

A second option would be to widen Lawrence and put in new, 5-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road. That option is estimated to cost between $2.5 million and $2.75 million (not including utilities, right-of-way or easements). Costs rise when working on the south side of the street because it includes lots of retaining walls, Rice said.

Utility costs would likely include relocating power poles, which would be "well into the millions of dollars," Rice said.

"We've not even attempted to put a pencil to that at this point," he added.

Kent asked about a third option: removing the south sidewalk on Lawrence, adding a new, 5-foot sidewalk on the north side and using the free space from the south sidewalk to widen the lanes.

"I think the consensus of a lot of the homeowners, they would be OK with one 5-foot sidewalk (on the north side) ... and widening the road," Kent said.

Rice said he could look into cost estimates, but he "would dare to guess it would still be somewhere in the $2-2.5 million range."

The city has not yet identified funding for any such project.

"Can you pass the hat around the table?" joked Kent, who was calling into the meeting via phone.

The 2022 special purpose local-option sales tax, which runs from 2022 through the end of 2027, includes line items for $500,000 of sidewalk improvements in each of the city's seven wards.

SPLOST also includes $13.2 million for city street resurfacing, to be spent over the six-year period.

Kent also expressed interest in the Local Maintenance & Improvement Grant, a state program which this year provided the city with nearly $600,000 to repave portions of Polk Street and Kennesaw Avenue. The city applies for the grant each fall and receives funds at the start of the following year. The grant amount is tied to the city's size and thus does not change much year-to-year.

Kent also inquired about other federal grants the city could pursue.

"Yes sir, we are currently looking at a couple different transportation department grant options, they do have the safe streets (grants), and they have a couple others that they're doing right now, and so we're following those and looking at the application process," City Manager Bill Bruton said.

While funding remains a question mark, Kent said he's intent on continuing to pursue the project.

"In my platform when I ran, I stated that I wanted to try to find the funds to redo Lawrence Street," Kent told the MDJ. "It's a historic street. It's a gateway to downtown, I call it. And it's much needed."

"It may be that I'll have to wait till the next SPLOST, but I'm going to pursue it," he added.