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Two Macon neighborhoods demonstrate the illogic and lack of system-wide
planning characteristic of the
Macon/Bibb County Road Improvement Program. Houston Avenue is in
critical need of infrastructure
improvements - improvements which would serve to revitalize a depressed
urban neighborhood. Lack of funds
will, unfortunately, allow but patchwork repairs. Its residents, two
County Commissioners, the Mayor, several
City Council members, and the Macon Telegraph have decried the decision
to temporize. Traffic on Houston
Avenue already exceeds that projected for Forest Hills Road.
The Forest Hills Road neighborhood, in contrast, will be devastated by
a grossly over-designed project that will
marginalize it and the surrounding residential neighborhoods. In the
process one of the scenic rural/urban
streetscapes that are Macon’s hallmark will be destroyed. The
residents, many elderly who have made the area
a vibrant neighborhood for decades, support a more compatible design
that would safely accommodate current
and future traffic needs in a neighborhood-friendly manner. That design
would use modern traffic calming
techniques, including roundabouts, to increase the capacity of the
street while containing speeds to limits
consistent with the adjoining land use and elementary school.
Roundabouts are strongly supported by the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety; their research found that
roundabouts reduce traffic backups; vehicular accidents fell 39
percent, accidents resulting in injuries fell 76
percent, and accidents resulting in death or incapacitating injury fell
90 percent. Vehicles approaching a
roundabout must slow; those approaching a signalized intersection often
speed up to avoid a stop, resulting in
head-on accidents at substantial speed (roundabout accidents involve
glancing side impacts, hence their lack of
severity). Michael Wallwork, one of the country’s leading experts on
roundabout design, has reviewed the
Forest Hills Road corridor at CAUTION Macon’s request, and concluded it
was the ideal solution. During his
visit, Mr. Wallwork showed a video of traffic negotiating a two-lane
roundabout in a commercial location in
Maryland that safely handles 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles a day.
In contrast, the RIP design would incorporate design speeds of 55 miles
per hour, as it has on Northside and
Zebulon. Logic would dictate using a less costly and more appropriate
design for Forest Hills Road, and shifting
the substantial savings to Houston Avenue. Both neighborhoods support
the proposition, as does the City of
Macon - a classic win-win situation! Road Program officials bemoun the
fact that $1.2 to $1.7 million has been
prematurely spend on design of Forest Hills Road, and think that the
exorbitant amount so wasted can only be
justified by squandering additional public funds on excessive
construction. In fact, most of the engineering
work could be used for an appropriately scaled facility. The Road
Program’s insistence on designing projects
before community buy-in only benefits private engineering firms, such
as Moreland Altobelli and Stantec, and
officials with interests therein.
It is questionable whether the Road Improvement Program’s usurping of
the City of Macon’ authority and
responsibility for roads within the city limits was ever formally
authorized. Several hours searching City
Council minutes and resolutions failed to produce any direct or tacit
approval of the arrangement (the joint
SPLOST was approved by resolution, but did not address implementation).
The Georgia Department of
Transportation’s involvement, which requires designation of Forest
Hills Road as a “temporary state highway,”
is likewise questionable, as there is no record of the Council action
required to effect such a designation.
What should be done? Ideally, the Road Program and the County
Commissioners would bow to community
and Council desires, and authorized redesign of the road. Future
SPLOSTs are doomed unless officials
demonstrate greater responsibility and accountability. Should this
fail, the City Council should assert its
rightful authority and inform the Road Program and the Georgia
Department of Transportation that it has not
and will not approved the project as designed.
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