Clayton County and the city of Sandy Springs are getting help from Georgia Tech and MARTA to address traffic and infrastructure issues.
The two municipalities are winners of Tech’s 2020 Georgia Smart Communities Challenge, which comes with $100,000 grants and help from engineers and network researchers. Others who take part in sponsoring the challenge include Georgia Power, Atlanta Regional Commission and the Association County Commissioners of Georgia.
Clayton will use the money to study traffic patterns and the need for more sidewalks. Sandy Springs will work on software that will make it easier for buses to maintain green lights so they can move through them and improve traffic efficiency.
“We are excited to work with GA Tech and in collaboration with MARTA and the city of Dunwoody in exploring opportunities to maximize current software to generate more efficiencies along our roadways, and at the same time enhance the benefits of using public transit,” Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul said in an email. “It’s a program with potential to provide benefits throughout the region. "
Clayton County Commission Chairman Jeff Turner said the funding will help address deadly traffic on the seven-mile long Tara Boulevard, one of the south metro Atlanta community’s main streets.
“We’ve had a problem with pedestrians getting hit, hurt and killed on Tara Boulevard, Flint River Road and some of our other busy thoroughfares,” said Turner, who credited Clayton Chief Operating Officer Detrick Stanford and the county’s transportation department with winning the grant.
“This grant will go a long way in helping us study those traffic flows,” Turner said. “We can also look at where sidewalks and other amenities could benefit the county when it comes to pedestrian safety.”
MARTA said it plans to work with Sandy Springs to enable technology on buses to alert an intersection that a bus is approaching. The technology, which will be used on Route 5 around Roswell Road, Johnson Ferry and Hammond Drive, allows a bus to request longer green lights or shorter red lights in heavy traffic, the transit agency said.
MARTA said it still determining its role in Clayton County’s plans.
“MARTA looks forward to partnering with Sandy Springs and Clayton County on these important studies that use innovative technology to improve transit service reliability and the walkability of our communities,” MARTA CEO Jeffrey Parker said.
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