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Forest
Hill Road |
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Macon, Ga Bibb
County's - "Roads Improvement Program" |
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Forest
Hill Road |
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Macon, Ga Bibb
County's - "Roads Improvement Program" |
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April 21, 2006 - Executive Com
of the Roads Improvement Program
Road Improvement Program -RIP- SPLOST meeting of the Executive Committee this morning at the Bibb County Courthouse at 10AM. *** News Update*** Tom Moreland reported (item #6 on the agenda) that he "had found excess money" in the Sales Tax Roads Program - over $500 thousand. He described in detail how the Executive Committee Members (*listed below) could shift that money into other projects. During "Community Comments", Lindsay Holliday suggested that a small portion of this extra money could be used to redesign Forest Hill Road. No action was taken on this suggestion. Bibb Chairman, Charles Bishop has stated previously that there is "no more design money" for Forest Hill. Holliday also showed videos of a recent car wreck with injuries at Forest Hill Road at Ridge Avenue. Other videos showed slow-motion dummy injuries from side impact "t-bone" wrecks. T-bone accidents do not occur at roundabout intersections. Roundabouts have 70-90% less injuries than the signalized intersections being planned for Forest Hill Rd. Holliday pleaded with the officials to change the design at Forest Hill to save the public from excess deaths and injuries. Officials showed no indication that they planned to follow thru on this advice. Chairman Bishop did later acknowledge that he had plenty of experiences with traffic accidents when he served as a patrolman for law enforcement in an earlier career. Bishop has not taken the time to study modern roundabouts. And he is skeptical of the overwhelming number of traffic studies that prove the safety of roundabouts. Executive Committee Members: Charles Bishop - Chair Bibb Commissioner - Sam Hart Ward Edwards - GDOT Commissioner. Mayor - C Jack Ellis Macon Council President - Anita Ponder, Bishop is the key vote to either changing Forest Hill or allowing the destruction of the neighborhood areas. Hart and Edwards always follow his vote. Ellis and Ponder favor a redesign. http://www.macon-bibb.com/FHR blind copies to CAUTION |
| April 21, 2006 - Executive Com
of the Roads Improvement Program |
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Posted on Sat, Apr. 22, 2006 page B1 Movement on Houston Avenue project not expected for months By Keich Whicker TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER It could be months before residents weary of negotiating the pitfalls of Houston Avenue see any change in the condition of the pavement there. Joe Wood, program manager for the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program, told the program's executive committee Friday that the Houston Avenue project had been offered for bids twice in the past six months. On each occasion, the bid proposals returned to the county by Kemi Construction Co. - the sole bidder in both cases - exceeded the project's budget, with one proposal running over by 27 percent and the other by 31 percent. Both bids ultimately were denied. "If the contractors were hungry, then we'd be seeing a whole different situation," Wood said, explaining why no other contractors offered bids. "There's a lot of work to go around right now." The cramped working conditions generally associated with working in an urban environment add a host of difficulties - as well as costs - many contractors try and avoid, Wood said. There's also the issue of underground utilities. "They know there's headaches involved," Wood said, referring to the infrastructure beneath the pavement, some of which was installed so long ago it isn't even shown on current utility maps. That means contractors literally don't know what they're getting into and what sort of costs they will have to absorb until the ground is opened up. Calling the road "one of the worst in the city," Macon Mayor Jack Ellis asked Friday how quickly the program was moving on the project. He emphasized how important a speedy solution to Houston Avenue's problems is to the community. "That's the road I get more questions about than any other," he said, encouraging the committee to move faster. Wood told the committee the project was being bid again in May, but he could not say when he thought construction would start. In other business: The committee voted to follow a suggestion made by Tom Moreland, president of Moreland Altobelli Associates, the private company chosen to manage the road improvement program for the county, and move $500,000 of excess money in the Sales Tax Roads Program to help fund work on Bloomfield Drive, Stadium Drive and Eisenhower Parkway. This move led opponents of the Forest Hill Road project who were present at the meeting to ask why the committee couldn't "find $500,000" to redesign that project. In the past, officials associated with the roads program have argued there are no more funds available to redesign the project. Michael Ryan said the project on Stadium Drive, which will rework some roads and move some utilities to help facilitate the construction of a hotel for Mercer University, should not be considered by the committee because it would enable the school - a private entity - to illegitimately reap the benefit of public tax dollars. "This is not a public project," he said. "It's a private project, funding the private interests of Mercer University." Both Ellis and Bibb County Chairman Charlie Bishop said they think the project would benefit the community by providing jobs and producing hotel/motel tax revenue. "I think it benefits all of Middle Georgia as a whole," Bishop said. "If it didn't, the roads project wouldn't be dealing with it." During an update about the overall progress of the roads program, Wood told the committee the county and the state Department of Transportation had let about $136 million of roads projects and spent $19 million acquiring 2,690 parcels of right-of-way. Lindsay Holliday, a local roads activist, utilized all sorts of electronic devices during the meeting. In addition to recording the proceedings with a video camera, he presented the committee a multimedia presentation - via his laptop computer - that extolled the virtues of roundabouts and criticized the dangers of traditional intersections and roads. Holliday wants a redesign of the Forest Hill Road project with roundabouts because he says it will save lives and reduce traffic congestion. No action has ever been taken on this request. During the community comments portion of the meeting, the committee was asked to consider moving its meetings to the more "community friendly" time of 5 p.m. in order to facilitate more public involvement. Residents also asked the committee to "think beyond the pavement" and take a more holistic approach to the impact of new construction when it considers project designs. http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/14402005.htm To contact writer Keich Whicker, call 744-4494 or e-mail swhicker@macontel.com
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- CAUTION Macon - |
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