Atlanta residents have complained for decades

Randy Guensler pushing "Sidewalker" vahi.org

about the Atlanta's broken sidewalks. Yet little information is available documenting the extent of sidewalk decay -- or which locations should be addressed first.

Thanks to an innovative project led by Georgia Tech Professor Randy Guensler, the City of Atlanta will soon have a detailed visual database of sidewalk conditions in Atlanta. 

Beginning this month, volunteers will use a wheelchair-mounted tablet outfitted with a special app to inventory sidewalk conditions. By measuring vibrations and recording videos, the tool will create a valuable database.

On May 4, graduate students will train volunteers to help with this project. If you'd like to participate, please RSVP so the organizers know how many people to expect.

The City of Atlanta has begun requiring pedestrians to push a button to activate walk lights at more locations. Doing so enables engineers to allocate more time to people driving on the main road and less time to people crossing it.  From the signal engineer's perspective, doing so "upgrades" intersections.

But from the perspective of pedestrians, the changes are a big step backwards for safety and convenience. People on foot often approach an intersection just as the light is about to change. If people arrive too late to push the button, engineers expect them to wait an entire cycle before entering the crosswalk.

 

Get real. At the intersection closest to PEDS' office, waiting for the next cycle delays pedestrians by two-and-a-half minutes. Once the traffic signal changes to green, people who fail to push the button ignore the "don't walk" signal and begin crossing. If they get hit by a turning driver, the driver is off the hook. 

 

PEDS CEO Sally Flocks has arranged a walking meeting with City of Atlanta transportation engineers to observe the impact of new activation requirements and discuss solutions.