In June 2010, 200 dogs took me for a walk on an unpaved, ungraded, abandoned train track. When that many paws turn up for a rocky 2.5 mile walk, you know that Atlantans’ attitudes about roads and sidewalks, mobility and fitness are changing.
In just a few months, the city of Atlanta will open that same stretch of land as a continuously paved surface known as the Eastside Trail of the Atlanta Beltline. For many of my intown neighbors, the trail will be one of the most accessible, obstacle-free surfaces that metro Atlanta has to offer.
When I arrived at the Atlanta City Council in 2006, 13 percent of Atlanta’s land area was devoted to streets and sidewalks. One-quarter of that was expressways and ramps. According to the 2010 State of the City Transportation Infrastructure Report, 25 percent of those sidewalks are in need of repair or replacement.
Until recently in Atlanta, as in many Sunbelt cities, we planned and budgeted for street work. We left responsibility for sidewalks to the adjoining property owner. Bond programs funded sidewalk work that property owners could not afford.
In the coming decades, our biggest opportunities for growth and economic development will come from our capacity to view our sidewalks as core infrastructure, the way we view streets, utilities, and schools.
How is Atlanta preparing for a more pedestrian-oriented future? By taking steps, big and small, in the right direction.
For a few years now, our city’s planning and public works departments have adopted a “complete streets” approach to the future. When we apply for funding to improve our street grid, we include sidewalk and bike lane enhancements in the mix. All of the corridor improvement projects that the city proposes for funding in the July referendum on the Transportation Investment Act meet these standards.
Later this month, I will introduce legislation to codify a “complete streets” approach as official city policy.
We also require large-scale developers to build and improve sidewalks adjacent to their properties.
I have seen the benefits of this policy in my own council district, in the streetscapes surrounding Historic Fourth Ward Park, the city’s newest greenspace.
Bond programs are another means by which we fund streets and sidewalks. Our most recent bond issuance, the $150 million Quality of Life program of 2000, was popular with residents and businesses alike. Future bond programs should be structured so that we can take bold steps in improving pedestrian mobility.
Ideally, over time our annual budget can reflect our evolving priorities. The estimated cost of repairing our current sidewalk infrastructure is $152 million, almost 30 percent of our current general fund budget, so this won’t happen overnight. One small step we could take now is to include sidewalk construction, repair and maintenance as a separate line item in each budget.
Last year, I sponsored legislation directing revenue from the city’s repair of sidewalks into a sidewalk trust fund. The city does not earn a lot of revenue from these repairs on private property but, thanks to the legislation, we have a dedicated revenue stream for the work. With time, the trust fund will help us multiply our repair and maintenance efforts, especially in underserved neighborhoods where the need is greatest.
We live in a time of hard fiscal realities, when governments and households are learning to live with less. It is a perfect time for us to lay the path for a more accessible pedestrian future.
Whether you pound the pavement with your feet, your paws, your baby stroller or your wheelchair, you deserve that much from local government.
Kwanza Hall is an Atlanta city councilman representing District 2.
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