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Forest Hill Road
- The
Macon-Bibb Community is Looking -
- for 10 Heroes -
| looking for - Political Heroes | ||
| Macon-Bibb is looking for 10 Political Heroes who have the Courage and Vision to move our community into a forward looking Consolidated Government, during these changing times. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes - who understand that - Balanced budgets don't just happen. They happen because someone took the time upfront to check the costs and to evaluate what we can afford and what will add the most value... Investing in what matters the most. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes - who will cosign legislation to force GDOT to build us a Safer, more Efficient road at Forest Hill Road. Instead of following the contractors desires for a more expensive design. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes - who will support the AARP vision of Age Friendly community. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes - who will support FHWA vision of Safe Routes to Schools, and Walkable Communities. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes - who will demand Safer Intersection Designs. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes - who will enforce the Tree Ordinance, not just because they are tree-huggers, but because it makes us a better place to live. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes - who will listen to overwhelming public sentiment vs entrenched GDOT profiteers. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes who will protect the middle-class tax base in the Forest Hill Neighborhood because it makes fiscal sense to not-sell-out your citizens for unsustainable sprawl. Wanted - 10 Political Heroes who will listen to and evaluate the wisdom of international urban designers (Wallwork, Chellman, et al) . Wanted - 10 Political Heroes .... ... |
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Looking:
| Subject: Forest Hill Road - Notice to the
Officials Responsible |
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Re: FHR (Forest Hill Road) GDOT-projects: STP-3213(1,3)/BRMLB-3213(5), Bibb County. P.I.No. 350520 & 351130/351135 http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR/ To Bibb County Commissioners and to
Whom It May Concern:
We are hereby putting The Bibb County Commissioners, local and state road officials on notice that they will be legally responsible for certain types of accidents that will happen on FHR if the GDOT plan is built without significant modifications. Officials' responsibility will arise because the Bibb Commissioners have not exercised due diligence, even when notified that there were safer alternatives. The Bibb Commissioners will be responsible for specific harm(s) to people and property that result from these flawed designs. The current GDOT road plans for FHR are unnecessarily dangerous, expensive, destructive and harmful. Motorists and pedestrians will face a much greater threat of accidental injury and mortality if the current GDOT design is not modified. Modern road design principals that use traffic calming can [still] be implemented in the FHR design if the officials of Macon, Bibb County, GDOT and FHWA would only direct they be done. Dangerous Designs: Intersections: The current GDOT design uses only signalized intersections. These intersections are known to be more dangerous than roundabout intersections. International expert, M. Wallwork came to Macon and spoke at a well publicized meeting at City Hall on January, 31, 2006. Wallwork spoke about the modern uses of roundabouts to economically smooth the efficient and safe movement of traffic. See his website at www.roundabouts.net The next morning, Mr Wallwork spoke to the Policy Committee of the Macon Area Transportation Study (MATS) group. There was general interest and some specific locations discussed to utilize roundabouts. Mr Wallwork gave expert opinion that Forest Hill Road could be redesigned to benefit from roundabouts. This would save time, money and it would be safer, and use a smaller footprint, thus be friendlier to the neighborhood. He later wrote a letter to Bibb County Commission - that letter can be viewed on-line: - page 1 < http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR/Wallwork1.jpg> and 2< http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR/Wallwork2.jpg>. References: http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR/Roundabouts.htm http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR/size.htm All this "roundabouts" information has been placed before the Commission numerous times over the past seven years. Dangerous Designs: Road Geometry: International expert in urban road design, Rick Chellman wrote several letters that were shared with Bibb County Commission in March and April 2008. These letters are weposted, and hereby paraphrased: Clearly, a high-speed road in a residential area is not safe, and the design of a center turn lane road certainly will create higher speeds than either of the proposals Chellman offered. The GDOT plans provide no shoulder or a tiny gutter pan buffer between moving cars and the curb; provide no space for bicyclists except within the flow of traffic (which, at 45 mph and above will not feel comfortable for even class A bicyclists); and provide no space for a broken down vehicle- except in a high speed roadway. An accident between a pedestrian and a vehicle that occurs at speeds below 35 mph will result in injuries; Vehicles traveling at 45 mph and above will assure fatalities in the event there is a collision with a pedestrian. A two-lane section, with shoulders, will function more appropriately for the northern section of FHR. See illustrations: http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR/Forest_Hill_Road__Chellman_4-5-08.pdf http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR/Forest_Hill_Road_Observations_Chellman.pdf The Bibb Commission went as far as promising the citizens that Mr Chellman would be brought to Macon for consultation if and when the FHR project restarted. But, the Commission reneged on this promise, and the FHR project was restarted by the Commission without the benefit of the promised consultations. AASHTO Guidance The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) publishes the most widely-accepted design guide for highways and streets with it’s A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, popularly known as the “Green Book”, In Chellman's considerable and wide experience, the County’s (GDOT) proposed three-lane section with its two-way left turn lane for northern FHR is very unusual for that context and, in his opinion, would not be as appropriate [safe] as the proposal diagrammed with shoulders. On this topic, AASHTO states: “In general, two-way left turn lanes should only be used in an urban setting where operating speeds are relatively low”. That means 25mph or less. The design speed for the FHR project exceeds 45mph. Transportation For America, a broad coalition of national, state, and local organizations that champion improving transportation options for all users, released the report Dangerous By Design 2011, which documents how the poor design of America's streets and roads has contributed to over 47,700 pedestrian deaths over the last decade. The report points out that "the majority of the these deaths occurred along "arterial" roadways that were engineered for speeding traffic with little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs or on bicycles." http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign2011 http://t4america.org/docs/dbd2011/Dangerous-by-Design-2011.pdf Signed, The Forest Hill Road Mediation Team Alice Boyd, Dan Fischer, Susan Hanberry-Martin, Lindsay Holliday, Carol Lystlund |
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| "Why
are U.S. cities going bankrupt? The cost of America’s inefficient sprawl By William Fulton, Special to CNN Editor’s note: William Fulton is vice president for policy and programs at Smart Growth America, and a former mayor of Ventura, California. The views expressed are his own. Earlier this month, Global Public Square addressed a critical issue at this moment in American history, as towns and cities nationwide look to bounce back from the recession. “Why are U.S. cities going bankrupt?” is a question everyone should be asking, but the real answer isn't |
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| Anti-Heroes | ||
What do the following names have in common? Elmo Richardson, Ken Sheets, Bob Fountain, Van Etheridge, Tom Moreland, Calder Pinkston? All have been critically and deeply involved either officially, financially or politically in pushing to supersize FHR. All have insisted they know what is the best way to build Forest Hill Road. Each has belittled the Forest Hill neighbors who only asked for a safer, more civilized road. None of these arrogant "experts" live in Macon. Only one even lives in our county, and he is moving soon to the coast... after he destroys the remaining livability of my home town. Do you think these "experts" would trash their own neighborhood? For more information about the harmful involvement of these people in this project, see the details online at: http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR online stuff: Tom Moreland has the most troubling conflicts of all. (see AJC story) . Elmo Richardson is a Bibb County Commissioner who plans to retire to his home on Saint Simons Island just as soon as his term is finished this January. Elmo has had numerous complaints of conflict-of-interest because his business interests have made hundreds of thousands of dollars from engineering contracts with the Bibb County Road Improvement Program. Although numerous citizens have accused Elmo of conflicts, only one citizen has actually filed a complaint with the state officials (link here) Most of the engineering drawings for FHR have been done by Stantec. Elmo was VP at Stantec when they got the contracts. Stantec is still the major tenant in a building currently owned by Elmo. Bob Fountain lives in Monroe County. He served as the Bibb County Engineer from 1980s to 2000s. He and Tom Moreland drove around Bibb County one day to create the list of road projects for the 1994 Macon-Bibb RIP SPLOST. From that day on, his MO was "Design and Defend". Citizens who questioned the RIP designs were belittled as being ignorant "non-engineers". Fountain finally retired from Bibb after most of the RIP money was spent. Van Etheridge is Fountain's 1st cousin who was hired to be the Project Manager overseeing the Macon-Bibb RIP. Van is soft spoken and less abrasive than his cousin, but he also belittled as being ignorant "non-engineers" any citizens who questioned the wisdom of wide, fast roads through residential neighborhoods. Ken Sheets followed Fountain's reign as Bibb County Engineer. Sheets is known to get into public conflicts with citizens (see link) by insulting their integrity and belittling them as "non-engineers". Sheets lives in Upson County, and he can't wait to speed home everyday after work, leaving Bibb County in his rear view mirror. Calder Pinkston proudly claims to have convinced Mayor Reichert into restarting the FHR project in 2009. "Show leadership in this project. Prove that you can accomplish something", he prodded the mayor. Calder's late father, Frank Pinkston served on the Georgia DOT Commission for our Congressional District. Commissioner Pinkston was the key person who located the snake-bit Fall Line Freeway route as proposed through the sacred Muskogee Creek Nation lands at the Ocmulgee National Monument. Calder developed his GDOT contacts through his father and says he is closer than a first name basis with all the important players within the GDOT industrial complex. Calder lives in Monroe County, but his official voting residence is in California. |
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| FHR |
Some Outside Heroes: |
FHR |
| Neighborhood-Friendly Expert Engineer : Rick Chellman, P.E.  Chellman 3-29-08 pdf analysis of (initial) errors in Traffic Projections. A Suggested realignment for FHR at Wimbish/Northminster.  Chellman 4-5-08 pdf further analysis of Moreland Altobelli's (1) Traffic projections, and (2) Design speeds, and (3) Safety claims and AASHTO guidance concerning road geometry. Follow up of Traffic Projections Analysis with latest information of actual GDOT traffic counts along FHR.(here) |
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| FHR-CAUTION-Creek_20100102.JPG |
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Roundabouts by M.
Wallwork, P.E. :
 New and historically (facts) based traffic projections now place traffic counts well under the GDOT limits for single-lane Roundabouts. Michael Wallwork, P.E.  in Macon in 2006. Wallwork's letter (rtf document) to Bibb Commissioners explaining the desirablilty of using Roundabouts at various locations/intersections along Forest Hill Rd. (page 1 and page 2) |
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Walter Kulash
visited Forest Hill Road in the early days of the
Macon-Bibb Road Improvement Program. Traffic
Calming -an
Overview"Widening roads to solve traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity,"says Walter Kulash, a traffic engineer from Orlando, Fla. - |
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| EA - Environmental
Assessment - Errorsronmental |
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| Stormwater Runoff The EA incorrectly lists the FHR branch tributary of Savage Creek as intermittent, but it is a perennial stream  This stream is easily observed where it flows under a bridge/driveway at 744 Forest Hill Road - residence address. Several hundred feet of this stream will be heavily impacted. Mitigation has not been properly calculated for this constant-flowing stream. |
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| EA - Errors |
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| Accident Data - Safety
(scan) Letter from GDOT's Harvey Keepler admitting gross errors in the EA report of Accident Data. |
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Macon, Ga
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- The Forest Hill Rd Neighborhood Mediation Team: - Carol Lystlund <clyst@att.net> 730 Forest Hill Rd. Macon 31210 - Lindsay Holliday <teeth@mindspring.com> 744 Forest Hill Rd. Macon 31210 - Susan Hanberry Martin <shanberry@stratford.org> 4831 Guerry Drive Macon 31210 - Dan Fischer <FISCHER_DP@Mercer.edu> 489 Ashville Drive Macon 31210 - Alice Boyd <dmbx1@cox.net> 540 Forest Hill Rd Macon 31210 |
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The 1994 "Road Improvement Program" SPLOST - grossly mis-mannaged - threatens to destroy the Forest Hill Neighborhood. |
| Vote
"No More"
Transportation SPLOSTs (here) |
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- CAUTION Macon - |
