Reflecting on recent news stories, one could conclude that the objective of the Georgia DOT is to figure out how to put bike lanes on Peachtree at the expense of cars. They were written after GDOT representatives made a courtesy presentation to our CID board of directors at our regular board meeting on Aug. 25.
GDOT has been working in partnership with the City of Atlanta and the Buckhead CID for two years or so to figure out how to make the stretch of Peachtree from Shadowlawn Avenue in Buckhead to Deering Road near I-85 a safer, more-reliable transportation corridor for everybody who uses the corridor today, and for those likely to use it for years to come as we grow.
The CID has a long history of improving Peachtree, having already transformed it into a “complete street” from Maple Drive to Peachtree Dunwoody Road during the first two of three long-planned phases for this transformation. The third phase, from Maple Drive to Shadowlawn Avenue, has been planned and designed and is currently moving forward. Several years ago, the CID began to consider what could be done to improve Peachtree’s function and feel south of Shadowlawn to our southern boundary at Sheridan Drive.
It was during this time that we discovered that GDOT wanted to improve the safety of Peachtree south of our CID boundary, principally by figuring out the best way to incorporate two-way left-turn lanes to get turning vehicles out of the inner-most travel lanes. It made sense to work together instead of hoping our independent solutions would mesh.
The predominant growth pattern today is inward – infill development in the urban core and urbanization of our suburban cities. As residential, office and retail development continues along and near Peachtree, more people driving Peachtree will be wanting to turn off of Peachtree to access those developments. And more people will be walking Peachtree, and wanting to get places without having to drive.
We can’t widen Peachtree south of Shadowlawn Avenue (although widening was part of the first two phases of our Peachtree transformation and something we will do in our third phase). There are significant challenges due to the very limited right of way, the impacts to properties, environmental impacts, the cost of utility relocation and other factors. So the problem to solve has been how to incorporate the two-way left-turn lane, where to add left-turn arrows to traffic signals, and what to do with the asphalt remaining between the existing curbs after you account for the new turn lane. Outside of the curbs, we want to improve the pedestrian experience, to continue to make Buckhead more walkable.
For almost all of the corridor, if you stand on one side of Peachtree just behind the curb and look across to the other side, you will see the opposite curb approximately 60 feet away from you. Between the curbs you will count three 10-ft lanes going in one direction and three going in the other direction. If you were to put a center turn lane in the middle, you will no longer have room to put back all six travel lanes. Your options are to put back either five lanes or to put back four lanes with bike lanes.
Bike lanes provide an opportunity for people who choose to ride bicycles to do so without riding on sidewalks, and they also, perhaps more importantly, provide a buffer between the pedestrian and automobile traffic, which can enhance a place’s walkability.
I don’t have room to describe all of the details. I like what is being proposed, but you shouldn’t rely on this opinion or any of the others. You should come listen to the whole story – the who, what, why, when, where and how – from those who have been working on this for the past two years.
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