Monday through Friday, approximately 100,000 employees and commuters enter the Dunwoody and Perimeter area for work in the morning and depart for home in the evening, essentially doubling the population of our city and business center every weekday.
Over the past year, my staff and I have conducted more than 130 business retention meetings where we met with CEOs and leaders of Dunwoody companies. New businesses, hotels, restaurants and retailers are vying for space all over the city because they know Dunwoody has a business-friendly environment with easy access to major interstates and MARTA.
Unfortunately, traffic continues to be the top concern for most of those executives.
Without active efforts to provide diverse mobility solutions, we risk setting ourselves up for increased congestion, a stumbling block to our continued growth. The conversation has to move beyond who’s responsible, the “right time,” and grumblings about change for the sake of convenience. We must realize our regional and national competitiveness is at stake unless we move forward to provide efficient transportation and mobility systems.
On a local level, we have an obligation to protect our single-family homeowners who moved to Dunwoody for its high quality of life and amenities. Our city’s success and development is a boon to home valuations; but are the benefits coming at a cost to convenience and connectivity?
In Dunwoody, we’ve taken small steps to improve traffic conditions by participating in key initiatives, such as the Perimeter Transportation Operations Program (PTOP). The program was completed in 2013 and helped alleviate some traffic strain by synchronizing traffic signals during evening peak rush hours at 46 intersections in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Brookhaven.
We’ve also worked hard with the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (PCIDs) and neighboring municipalities to create pedestrian connectivity within the Perimeter area. To that end, Dunwoody activated a multi-use trail network, which we anticipate one day to stretch more than five miles, connecting the Perimeter area with the Georgetown district, Brook Run Park on the east side and beyond.
At the same time, businesses are seeking to attract a new generation of employees who favor accessibility, walkability and transit options. Multi-modal options for citizens and workers will be critical assets as we move from suburban community centers to more urban hubs of commerce and livability. Implementing smart mobility solutions will also help increase our property values, attract new employers and add jobs.
That message was reinforced by State Farm, which recently broke ground on its new mixed-use project of more than 2 million square feet in the Dunwoody/Perimeter area. Gov. Nathan Deal also echoed the commitment to the area in plans to reconstruct the interchange of I-285 and Ga. 400. MARTA CEO Keith Parker has also joined the effort by spearheading investment in such stations as Dunwoody and Doraville.
New projects and investments are taking shape along I-285 to the west in Cobb County with the new Atlanta Braves stadium complex, and to the east in Doraville where developers are putting together ideas for the 167-acre former General Motors plant.
It’s exciting that both projects are intended to create large, mixed-use developments with connections to mass transit and the interstate. At the same time, we all need to work together to develop long–term solutions to traffic challenges along the top end of I-285 between I-75 and I-85.
Paired with the Dunwoody and Perimeter-area hub and the I-285/Ga. 400 upgrades, these improvements could be considered a development trifecta — a trio of large, multi-faceted developments coming out of the ground at the same time, something we’ve not witnessed before in the northern suburban market.
I invite the elected leaders of Dunwoody’s neighboring municipalities, along with the leaders of the PCIDs, to join us to craft innovative transportation solutions to improve our congested roads. Solutions could include a circulator system, multi-use trails, bike lanes, bus and rapid transit, managed lanes and improved express bus services.
The importance of developing and implementing localized mobility solutions that tackle traffic congestion and promote improved regional transportation remains tantamount. These solutions need to be arrived at jointly, agreed upon cohesively and put in place soon, or we will miss the opportunity to make a difference in transportation and mobility solutions outside the Perimeter and beyond.
Mike Davis is mayor of Dunwoody.
