|
Forest Hill Road |
|
Macon, Ga MATS - TCC is asked to - Re-Think (again) |
| |
|
Forest Hill Road |
|
Macon, Ga MATS - TCC is asked to - Re-Think (again) |
| |
| |
http://www.macon.com/local/story/993156.html
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 Forest Hill debate finds no answers By MIKE STUCKA - mstucka@macon.com Efforts to find a common solution for Forest Hill Road’s traffic problems splintered again Wednesday. Lindsay Holliday, one of the road’s biggest advocates, said local transportation planning officials poked no holes in proposals by New Hampshire traffic engineer Rick Chellman that call for slower speed limits on the road that may carry fewer cars. However, some traffic planners in a 30-person meeting of a Macon Area Traffic Study committee Wednesday criticized the plan and said it provided no solutions. Don Tussing with the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission said Forest Hill Road traffic hasn’t increased, according to projections, only because weary drivers shifted to other roads. “That section of road is at capacity,” Tussing told Holliday in Wednesday’s meeting. “You can’t squeeze more through there.” City, county and state plans call for a stretch of Forest Hill Road near Vineville Avenue to become a four-lane road with a grassy median. Closer to Northside Drive, the road would carry two lanes of traffic and a middle turning lane. Holliday argued for one less lane in each stretch. Portions of his road would have a six-foot-wide path on each side that could be used for bicyclists, and the speed on the entire road would drop to 35 mph instead of 45 mph, he said. “Sometimes you’ll just pick a slower road because it’s quieter and calmer,” he said. “We would choose a lower level of service.” Tuesday, transportation consultant Van Etheridge told county commissioners the proposed four-lane section carried 14,900 cars a day and the three-lane section carried 11,000 cars in a 2007 study of actual traffic. “If you looked at those numbers right there and started designing the road today, you’d design the same road,” he said. In response, County Chief Administrative Officer Steve Layson said that even if traffic dropped 3,000 cars, that size road would still be needed. Holliday said Wednesday that the Chellman plan could be easily implemented, with little extra planning costs that would save millions on construction. He argued a left-turn lane could have already been added at Ridge Avenue. “They want you to solve the congestion at that intersection, and by God, we could do that today,” he said. Officials at Wednesday’s meeting said planning, including environmental studies, would have to be started over and would add years to the timeline. Holliday said in a later telephone interview that a solution for Forest Hill Road could be necessary to the county passing a special purpose local option sales tax. He said residents are correct in supporting the Chellman plan and are prepared to sue the county. “If we can’t get this technical fix, if they don’t fix Forest Hill Road before they try to sell this next SPLOST, it’s going to get very embarrassing for them,” Holliday said. “There are solutions out there.” County Commission Chairman Sam Hart said he doesn’t know a timeline for the project now but knows the state has begun buying more right-of-way for a road widening. A state worksheet showed the road is on a 2014 transportation plan, but a state official said that was a mistake and Forest Hill Road is slated to open by 2020. To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251. |
|
Reader's Online Comments |
||
Comments about the Telegraph Story above: Some of the quoted "roads officials" are either incompetent, or they are deliberately misleading the public... Road Capacity?... Two lanes on West Paces Ferry in Atlanta carry over 25,000 cars a day. Bibb needs to pay a New Team to find the Solution. Their Old Team is stuck on Old Ideas that do not work with the public anymore. crunchthenumbers wrote on 01/21/2010 02:06:16 AM: Just look at all the poor planning, vacant buildings and homes around Bibb County. Then look at the "Planners" that have overseen this quagmire for decades. Then ask yourself why Bibb County Chief Administrative Officer Steve Layson and Macon-Bibb Planning and Zoning are so intent on wasting $26 million of our tax dollars on the FHR project, when less than $4 million would accomplish the goals and allow the Forest Hill Neighborhood to retain it's wooded, natural legacy. A 2 mile stretch of Riverside was recently reworked with a major bridge rebuilt for $13 million. Steve Layson, Don Tussing, Van Ethridge & Elmo Richardson can't wait to get in your back pockets for $26million for a similar 2 mile stretch of road. Something is really rotten at the Bibb County Commission & Macon Bibb Planning and Zoning. DougMac
wrote on 01/21/2010 07:25:08 AM:
"Something is really rotten at the Bibb County Commission
& Macon Bibb Planning and Zoning" eleven45547
wrote on 01/21/2010 08:28:05 AM:
Van Etheridge gets paid regardless of roads built or not. carpepm
wrote on 01/21/2010 10:09:15 AM:
Actually, it was Elmo Richardson's firm, STANTEC that designed this monstrosity, with, of course, the help of Moreland-Altobelli. Where did Steve Layson, the CAO of the county commissioners ever get the idea that a third, left turn only middle lane (suicide lane) increases capacity? It increases speed, but according to nationally recognized and authored transportation planners, it does not add capacity. Seems to me our elected and appointed officials need to go back to their transportation 101 classes. Oh, excuse me, you mean they haven't taken it yet? My goodness...Fix the intersections and you solve the problem. Simple for anyone to understand except our planners (that's being kind) and our elected and appointed officials. Doc is right, West Paces Ferry in Atlanta, where the governor's mansion is located, handles 30,000 cars a day just fine, thank you ma'm. Look it up. carpepm
wrote on 01/21/2010 10:14:01 AM:
I
forgot to add: The $25 million that has been tossed about is in "old"
dollars. Just think how much of your hard earned tax dollars it's going
to cost in 2020! "A million here and a million there, and pretty soon
we're talking some real money." Anybody really want to vote or support
another SPLOST after the wasteful way the county commissioners and the
Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program's managing firm have wasted
the already collected $125 million RIP SPLOST money? eleven45547
wrote on 01/21/2010 10:31:07 AM:
rat on carpepm, rat on . The elected officials are simply
deaf. Or stupid. Doc
wrote on 01/21/2010 01:23:43 PM:
"Bendrr" is ignorant of the fact that Holliday spent 15 minutes yesterday pushing the idea to Resurface Forest Hill Road right now. The engineers had a range of responses - 1- it would either be of No Consequence (and cost $0) to the existing plans, or 2- Moreland's Company might charge up to $40,000 to review the plans, if 1 inch of resurfacing is applied to Forest Hill. DougMac
wrote on 01/21/2010 11:38:27 AM:
"Anybody really want to vote or support another SPLOST...?" Doc
wrote on 01/21/2010 11:09:03 AM:
Pictures from the Roads Meeting:
intown
wrote on 01/21/2010 02:53:19 PM:
Bendrr,
I think you are the Loony one. Dr. Holliday devotes a great deal of
time trying to make Macon a nicer place to live AND drive and is one of
the few who dares to question the bureaucracy. The DOT is too proud and
stubborn to even consider anything other than their own plans! Their
answer to questions? BECAUSE! Don't think for a moment that politicians
don't get their hands greased in the process. Why else would they be so
reluctant to hear valid alternatives that work well elsewhere? Yes,
Bendrr, what have you contributed to the world? josephstevenblow
wrote on 01/21/2010 03:13:38 PM:
All I know is this road better at least get repaved or else
cars are going to start to go missing into the potholes. Sammie13
wrote on 01/21/2010 07:49:04 PM:
All
Forest Hill needs is a turn lane at Ridge. This road is hardly a
priority in Macon, especially since, as others mentioned, by the time
it's completed the Macon Mall will probably be a flea market. otherwiser
wrote on 01/21/2010 08:45:00 PM:
Immediately
start construction to 1) improve the intersections at Ridge Ave,
Wimbish Rd, 2) add a few turn lanes at stategic points, 3) resurface
the road and watch any and all problems vanish overnight... otherwiser
wrote on 01/21/2010 10:23:37 PM:
Four the State, its good to know you are still getting your
impotent jollies off by threatening SLAPP lawsuits.
(And State Rep Allen Peake has recently called for a scaled
back design
of Forest Hill Rd, which would include resurfacing the existing road
bed, reworking intersections and installing turn lanes at strategic
locations. Mr Peake's suggestions would save 10s of millions of tax
dollars, allow our Neighborhood to maintain it's God given, natural
beauty and get the two times per day, traffic congestion problem
solved. The idea is so simple that it has flown over the heads of our
local, elected officials, who seem he!! bent on wasting 10s of millions
of tax dollars during a statewide fiscal depression-recession.)
|
||
| View
below of Ridge Ave in Macon has same profile as design suggested by
Rick Chellman of TND Engineering |
||
 |
||
|
|
|
back to Forest Hill Road |
|
|
|
Georgia DOT |
|
- CAUTION Macon - |
| Forest Hill Road |
