Forest Hill Road

    "Stakeholders" Meeting with GDOT on May 31st 2002:  

Macon, Ga

    Bibb County's - "Roads Improvement Program"  

  2002 Telegraph Editorial 

Posted on Sun, Jun. 02, 2002

http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/opinion/3376167.htm

Charles E. Richardson / For the editorial board

Vineville solutions not addressed

For all of the pre-meeting jockeying between county leaders, the Georgia Department of Transportation and opponents of the widening of Forest Hill Road, the recent gathering, called at the request of the Federal Highway Administration, came off smoothly.

While the format of the meeting may not have pleased some in the audience who wanted to speak, the forum did allow for concentrated discussion about the road and merits of the widening project. Some of the people invited to actively participate were miscast by the opposition as being for the improvements, most notably Raymond

Smith, whose office sits at the corner of Forest Hill and Forsyth. Also, the representative from one of the churches, located on Forest Hill, Aaron Bowers, cast as a widening proponent, stated flatly that his church thought improvements would create more problems than the widening would solve.

Joe Palladi, the GDOT engineer on the project, attempted to explain his reasoning for widening the road, with the most vocal opposition coming from CAUTION Macon member Susan Hanberry. In saying that predicting traffic is an inexact science, Palladi admitted that he had trouble guessing what would happen in the next 24 hours, much less 25 years. Hanberry, on the other hand, emphasized that if the road is widened, more traffic will follow, changing and harming the neighborhood.

Though no final decisions were made at the meeting, there were a number of flaws in the present plan that are obvious. The idea to cul-de-sac some streets only increases traffic on other streets. Cul-de-sacs solve problems for some neighbors while harming others.

The other glaring weakness in the overall plan - if all of the traffic projections are right on the money - is the absence of improvements to Vineville Avenue. If traffic counts increase as predicted due to retail growth north of Northside Drive and Forest Hill Road, the two lanes with a middle suicide lane that presently serves as Vineville will be woefully inadequate. It doesn't seem to make sense to address a neighborhood lane such as Forest Hill Road before biting the big bullet of Vineville.

Forest Hill Road issues unresolved

- Fri, May. 31, 2002

Area residents, DOT and federal officials debate widening of Macon road

By Thomas W. Krause

Telegraph Staff Writer

A meeting Thursday, intended to resolve issues surrounding the planned widening of Forest Hill Road, featured lively debate but left many questions unresolved after two hours of comments.

David Grachen, project development manager with the Federal Highway Administration, arranged the meeting after a similar one last year failed to calm area residents' apprehensions about the proposed project. After Thursday's meeting, Grachen said he was hesitant to say the issue was close to a resolution.

"I'm really not sure," he said. "Obviously, there was some really good discussion here. I'm going to go home and digest what was said. I think some progress was made."

In June 2001, the Georgia Department of Transportation held a required meeting to gather public input on the project. Afterward, about 20 people contacted Grachen saying they were dissatisfied with the DOT's plans.

"Many people came and expressed opposition, which was somewhat surprising to me," Grachen said.

Thursday's meeting gathered about a dozen "stakeholders," including representatives of DOT, area churches, Macon Northside Hospital, area residents, real estate interests and CAUTION Macon, a nonprofit group that has questioned the necessity of many proposed road projects.

Much of Thursday's debate included back-and-forth banter between Susan Hanberry of CAUTION Macon and Joe Palladi, the DOT engineer for the project.

Hanberry maintained that the area does not need a wider road. She said a wider road would increase traffic, thus increasing accidents and irreparably altering the neighborhood.

"We can deal with a lower level of service on this road if it protects our neighborhoods," she said.

But Palladi countered that the traffic is coming no matter what. If it doesn't come down Forest Hill Road, it will have to go somewhere.

Palladi likened the road system to a tube of toothpaste. If you squeeze the tube, the toothpaste has to go somewhere.

"Unfortunately, these (decisions) are sometimes not (made through) votes," he said. "The good of the general public, not just the residents of the neighborhood, has to be weighed."

Interests of those traveling through the area, those who work in the area, those who go to church there and those who use the area's hospital all have to be included in the discussion, Palladi said.

The project calls for widening Forest Hill to four lanes between Vineville Avenue and Wimbish Road. The wider road would include a grass median, and would be straighter and flatter.

Between Wimbish and Northside Drive, where the traffic is not as heavy, Forest Hill Road would be widened to three lanes - one each direction and a turn lane in the middle.

Forest Hill now has two lanes for the entire length.

Palladi said the curves and hills of the road would cause more accidents if not straightened. Hanberry disagreed, saying the curves and hills prevent speeding.

"You can't expect the police to enforce the speed limit all the time," she said. "If you can affect road speed with geometry, by golly let's do it."

Hanberry used Zebulon Road as an example. That straight and wide road encourages speeders, she said.

Palladi suggested using traffic signals on timed cycles to prevent speeding. He said people would not want to speed up, then slow down, every time a traffic light turned red.

At least one of the stakeholders in the discussion said he understands the DOT's position. Tim Thornton of Thornton Realty, who lives in the area, said Forest Hill Road is unsafe as it exists right now.

"I may be in the minority here," he said. "We're talking about protecting neighborhoods, but we should be talking about protecting pets and children. It's a dangerous road."

Although about a dozen people were involved in the discussion, many more attended the meeting.

The audience included about 80 people, many of whom carried red signs that said "save our neighborhood." Some complained that only the selected panel of stakeholders was allowed to speak.

Vernon Ryle, executive director of Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning, said the format of the meeting was intended for efficiency. The meeting in June was for all citizens.

To contact Thomas W. Krause, call 744-4477 or e-mail tkrause@macontel.com.

Posted on Fri, May. 31, 2002

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/3368746.htm 

The fight's not to save trees, but neighborhoods

By Gary C. Schultz

5-30-02

In a recent letter to Viewpoints, John G. Kelley Jr. berates CAUTION-Macon and others as narrow-minded and self-centered "because they value a pine tree over road improvements." This brought to mind a remark made in jest by a professor in an undergraduate course in logic: "Of course, if you can't mount a cogent and logical argument against a proposition, misstate the proposition, then ridicule it."

The local residents' fight against the Forest Hill Road project is not about a pine tree; it is about our efforts to save our neighborhoods from what is essentially a four- and five-lane freeway. Macon citizens have done an admirable job restoring and maintaining their older and historic neighborhoods. Many of us have heavily invested capital and time in the belief that we can live in green, wooded, traditional and attractive urban neighborhoods without contributing to sprawl outside the city limits.

The Forest Hill Road project being pushed by GDOT and the chairman of the county commission is totally unnecessary, unconscionably expensive, and ignores these realities:

-- Traffic flow numbers for Forest Hill Road have been flat since 1990. Population of the Macon metropolitan area has actually declined since the 1990 census. By GDOT's own analysis, there will be "zero" negative effect on traffic flow in the area if this and five other projects are not built.

-- Cul-du-saccing Overlook and The Prado will force traffic to-and-from the Stinsonville, Ingleside Woods, and Captain Kell areas down the narrow residential streets of Riverdale Drive, Albermarle Place and Belvedere Drive. What occasional slow-downs occur on Forest Hill Road could be easily corrected by straightening the dogleg at Ridge Avenue and the construction of a few simple left turn lanes or roundabouts at a very few intersections.

If our "Pennies for Potholes" tax is going to be used to eviscerate older, established neighborhoods, then the quality of life in Macon will suffer and this area will be even less attractive to companies seeking to place and hire educated and well paid employees.

High speed, multi-lane access to malls and mega-plexes may be attractive to Mr. Kelley and any potential developer of the next "big blue box," but they will not bring the quality growth and above-minimum-wage jobs others envision for Macon.

Gary C. Schultz lives in Macon.

 Posted on Thu, May. 30, 2002

http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/editorial/letters/3360435.htm

Forest Hill Road: Issues and Impacts

by Dan Fisher

The Georgia Department of Transportation and the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program held a "by invitation only" meeting on Thursday, May 30th to review issues raised in 300- plus written citizen responses relative to the Forest Hill Road Project. Only 15 individuals invited by the Georgia Department of Transportation from names submitted by Bibb County Chairman Tommy C. Olmstead, plus project officials, were permitted to participate (not all attended). The professional moderator hired to conduct the meeting promised that discussion would be opened to the audience after the panel concluded its discussion, and issued a dire warning that any comments or even reactions from the audience prior to that time would result in "the lights being turned off" and the meeting terminated. At 6:00PM the moderator abruptly announced that the meeting was over: the room, reserved to 6:05PM, had to be immediately vacated.

Interestingly, no one appeared to clean or use the room as of 7:30PM (that's when I left!).

Four of the invitees represented residents of the affected area, and had attended prior hearings; the remaining eleven represented business, church and development interests. Citizens who had attended prior meetings and submitted written comments fear their concerns will be ignored; their hope is that the Federal Highway Administration officials who deemed those concerns substantive will demand resolution. The concerns reflect unabashed disregard of federal requirements for responsible transportation planning by the Bibb/Macon Road Improvement Program.

The major issue for citizens is whether the needs of and quality of life in mature residential neighborhoods should be sacrificed to accommodate outlying growth. The proposed road improvements are designed to carry twice the current traffic volume, with the added volume originating outside of the neighborhoods anchored by Forest Hill Road. Pressure for conversion of properties fronting Forest Hill Road to commercial use will parallel our experience on Vineville. Speed and traffic will decrease convenience and safety, especially for the large number of senior citizens residing in the areas. Access restrictions to Overlook Avenue, The Prado, and Drury Drive will deny convenient access to neighborhoods depending on those streets and increase traffic volume on Overlook and other internal streets. Congestion will ultimately equal  or exceed that currently experienced, exacerbated by the increased volume (the Forest Hill Road/Vineville intersection, not road width, is the ultimate constraint).

Aggravation of conditions on Vineville Avenue, already congested, will force costly and damaging improvements. It is irresponsible to generate traffic volumes on Forest Hill Road and other feeders impacting Vineville until it is determined expansion capable of handling those volumes is possible, and until the required projects have been publicly debated and formally approved.

The question that must be asked (federal regulations require it) is whether alternatives are feasible that avoid or lessen these impacts: they are! The Road Improvement Program's own models and analysis demonstrate dramatic reductions in future volume if the improvements are not made, indicating that there are other, and arguably better and less destructive, routes such as I-75 available to outlying traffic. Should the freeway or existing neighborhoods be the preferred route to accommodate urban growth/sprawl? Will we sacrifice all of our neighborhoods, or just some of them?

Some improvements are desirable on Forest Hill Drive. Safer access to the apartment complexes are necessary. Several intersections need to be aligned and signalized. Improved stacking and intersection improvements at Forest Hill Road/Vineville would alleviate the most serious congestion. Dedicated left and right-turn lanes where appropriate would improve flow and safety. A detached sidewalk (one side) would increase safety and improve access to McKibben Lane and public transit, as well as provide alternatives to the car and encourage exercise.

Isn't it better to error on the side of over-design? Not when it comes to urban streets! "Built it and they will come," as traffic follows the course of least resistance. If traffic is inappropriate in a neighborhood, don't build a street that attracts it! This is at the heart of modern "traffic calming" concepts. Macon actually employed Walter Kulash, a nationally respected expert in such concepts, until Road Improvement Program officials chased him out of town!

In the final analysis, the issue is a simple one: do people or cars come first in Macon Georgia.

Do you have concerns or comments? Address them to:

David Grachen, Project Development Manager

U.S. Department of Transportation

Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Division

61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Suite 17T100

Atlanta GA, 30303

Submitted by Daniel P. Fischer, 489 Ashville Drive, Macon GA 31210

(478.477.3875)

 http://www.macon.com/mld/telegraph/news/editorial/letters/3308236.htm

Posted on Wed, May. 22, 2002

Leadership is ignoring stakeholders

By Joseph R. Gibbs Jr.

I am not a member of Caution Macon. I am familiar with some of the projects that Caution Macon has followed and is following. I also have concerns about how taxpayers' money has been and is being spent on these projects.

The leadership of this community has time and again demonstrated that the citizens' concerns are of no interest to elected officials. In a recent public meeting about the proposed Southside Connector, Van Etheridge, of Moreland-Altobelli, road project engineers, was quoted as saying, "If they do not want it, we will not build it."

I question this statement because the South Bibb residents did not want a five-lane "highway" in place of Houston Road, but that is what was built - or is being built, since it is not completed.

At the following CAC meeting, when the Southside Connector public meeting was being discussed, Etheridge, a member of the CAC committee, and other committee members indicated that the project was still moving forward. As for this "stakeholders'" meeting for Forest Hill Road, The Macon Telegraph, the legal organ for Bibb

County, ran articles almost a year ago in which it was stated that this meeting was to be a public meeting. As recently as May 8, 2002, at the CAC meeting, I heard Bob Fountain explain that this stakeholders' meeting was to be a "public" meeting.

As a taxpaying citizen of Bibb County, I consider myself to be a stakeholder just as much as the residents in the Forest Hill neighborhood. All taxpaying citizens should also be concerned about these same issues.

Attendance should not be "by invitation only" as has been reported, and meeting participants should not be limited to a handpicked list, of which a majority are Commission Chairman Tommy Olmstead's favorites. As long as tax dollars are being used, or misused, the public has a right to attend this meeting.

Joseph R. (Robby) Gibbs Jr. is a resident of Macon.

- CAUTION Macon -

Forest Hill Road