Alpharetta receives consultant’s ‘walkability’ study

Main Street (Ga. 9) in downtown Alpharetta. An engineering consultant has completed a study on making the city’s streets safer and more convenient to pedestrians. JASON GETZ/AJC FILE

Main Street (Ga. 9) in downtown Alpharetta. An engineering consultant has completed a study on making the city’s streets safer and more convenient to pedestrians. JASON GETZ/AJC FILE

The Alpharetta City Council has accepted a consultant’s “Walkability & Pedestrian Safety Study” that recommends actions to make the city more pedestrian-friendly.

The study, completed under a $124,280 contract by the AECOM engineering firm, "provides the city with a tool to guide future development and capital projects related to pedestrian activity and safety," staff said in a report to the council. To view the study: https://bit.ly/2WBhuoq

The consultant recommended “maintenance items,” like pruning vegetation, repairing sidewalks and replacing faded crosswalk markings; and “quick response countermeasures,” such as prohibiting vehicles turning right on red downtown, and eliminating on-street parking within 25 feet of crosswalks.

The study lists a number of “near term projects,” such as raised crosswalks, speed tables and raised intersections downtown; and “long-term projects,” like pedestrian corridors connecting Avalon and Wills Park to the downtown core, and roundabouts at Roswell and Old Roswell streets and Mayfield Road and Canton Street.