Decatur’s commission approved an agreement with CSX for pedestrian improvements on the two College Avenue railroad crossings at Candler Street and McDonough Street. The total cost is $230,000 for concrete-surface pedestrian/bicycle/wheelchair-accessible walkways placed outside the crossing gates and well off the road. Additionally, both roads north of the tracks will get leveled for a gentler slope. This is part of a thorough renovation for those two longtime-troublesome intersections, a project that has been more than six years in the works. These will include roadway improvements, particularly on McDonough, which will get narrowed from four to two lanes with wider sidewalks, along with state-of-the art traffic signals at both intersections. Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon said the roadway improvements should begin in early 2016, with the railroad crossings coming sometime after that. He added, however, the traffic-signal upgrades are probably still two years off.
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