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May 2007

In This Issue
Buford Highway Pilot Project
Sidewalk Maintenance
Cut Curbs, Not Corners
Regional Bike-Ped Plan
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Greetings!

We want to update you on our progress promoting safe crossings on state highways, increased funding for sidewalk maintenance, and accessibility for wheelchair users. We also want to let you know about the May 22 Open House Workshop on the proposed update to the region's bike-ped plan.

Sally Flocks
President & CEO, PEDS

Buford Highway Pilot Project
PEDS commends the Georgia Department of Transportation for installing median refuge islands and crosswalks at four locations on Buford Highway.Yet as PEDS program manager Michael Orta shows during an 11 Alive News interview, the crosswalks, signage, and pedestrian-activated yellow flashing lights fail to get most motorists to stop. The signals are also confusing to Spanish-speaking pedestrians. PEDS has encouraged GDOT to replace the yellow flashing lights with HAWK signals, which incorporate red lights, and to add countdown signals that let pedestrians know how much time they have to get across the street.

GDOT plans to install medians and median refuge islands and crosswalks in more locations on Buford Highway and other state roads within the next few years. Together with others, we are encouraging traffic engineers to install facilities ensuring that crosswalks operate as they were intended: with drivers stopping and stay stopped for pedestrians
Sidewalk Maintenance:  Atlanta Takes First Step
Broken sidewalkAs those of your familiar with 12-Step Programs know, step one involves admitting you've got a serious and unmanageable problem. We're pleased to report that with regard to sidewalk maintenance, the City of Atlanta has taken that step. At a City Council work session in February, Public Works Commissioner David Scott estimated that one-fourth Atlanta's sidewalks need to be repaired or replaced. He also said the sidewalk maintenance problem could not be resolved with the resources on hand. The current $125,000 budget for maintenance, Commissioner Scott said, "allows the city to do emergency maintenance only." At a meeting with PEDS president Sally Flocks earlier this month, Commissioner Scott agreed that a bond referendum would be the City's best choice for funding the estimated $80 million in sidewalks repairs.

An article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week added momentum to our efforts to promote using tax dollars to pay for sidewalk maintenance. Meanwhile, the Midtown Neighbors Association  reported last week that Councilmember Anne Fauver found "a small pot of money" to secure replacement sidewalks for three streets in Midtown. "This is not the start of a program -- it is a one time thing,"  the newsletter explained. "No other neighborhood will have this benefit."  PEDS is delighted to learn that broken sidewalks on a few Midtown streets will be replaced. Yet since public funds will finance these, we consider it inappropriate for Atlanta to continue requiring property owners on all other streets to pay for repairs on sidewalks adjacent to their property. Why would someone on an east-west street in Midtown agree to pay for sidewalk repairs after learning that the City paid for repairs on the north-south streets?  Likewise, why would anyone in other neighborhoods be willing to pay for repairs if people in Midtown got theirs funded by the City?
 
Sidewalks are public assets, just like the streets. Atlanta needs to update its sidewalk ordinance, pass a bond referendum allocating $80 million for sidewalk maintenance, and take responsibility for maintaining sidewalks throughout the City.  
Street Resurfacing: Cut Curbs, Not Corners
Morris Brandon Elementary At intersections without curb ramps, sidewalk travel in urban areas is dangerous, difficult, and often impossible for people with disabilities. Curb ramps enable people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids to gain access to sidewalks and pass through islands in streets. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires local and state governments to install curb ramps whenever streets are resurfaced.

Try telling that to the Atlanta Public Works Department.  After PEDS President Sally Flocks complained to traffic engineer Nursef Kedir about the city's failure to install ramps when Monroe Drive was repaved,  he said the work done on Monroe was "routine maintenance" and therefore didn't trigger ADA requirements. Regulations and technical assistance issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as legal precedent, show otherwise.  In Kinney v. Yerusalim, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held in 1993 that repaving that extends "from intersection to intersection" is not "routine maintenance" but instead constitutes an "alteration" that triggers ADA requirements for ramps.

PEDS has asked the City of Atlanta to update its policies so that curb ramps will be installed at the same time that streets are resurfaced.  We have also encouraged Public Works Department to list streets that have been repaved since 1992 and inventory the location of curbs on those streets that lack ramps at intersections. The cost of retrofitting these to comply with ADA should be factored into the City's budget for street maintenance. We are also researching policies and practices in other metro Atlanta jurisdictions and at the Georgia Department and will promote changes among all those that fail to install ramps when repaving streets.
Open House Workshop
The Atlanta Regional Commission is seeking feedback on the draft 2007 update of its regional bike plan.  At the Open House Workshop on Tuesday, consultants who helped develop the plan will review preliminary findings and draft policy recommendations. 

Tuesday, May 22, 4:00 - 8:00 PM
Atlanta-Fulton County Library, lower level
One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta
(across the street from the SW exit of the Peachtree Center MARTA station)

The bike-ped plan provides useful tools for analyzing "latent demand" for walking and cycling and "level of service" for people on foot.  It also makes policy recommendations about crossing treatments at locations that are not controlled by traffic signals. 
About Us
PEDS is a member-based advocacy group dedicated to making metro Atlanta safe and accessible for all pedestrians.

email: [email protected]
phone: 404-522-3666
web: http://www.peds.org