Decatur, Ga., finalizes railroad crossing improvement project
Written by RT&S Staff
Decatur, Ga., officials finalized plans to address a tricky railroad crossing.
The coronavirus pandemic has stalled many railroad projects in 2020, but the railroad crossing intersection improvement project in Decatur, Ga., now seems ready for a jumpstart.
City officials met with the public during a virtual open house on Dec. 9 to finalize the Atlanta Avenue project. The city commission approved the Adair crossing extension back in August 2019, which will extend Adair Street from West Howard to West College Avenue.
The most recent meeting was to get the public’s input on pedestrian and bicycle priorities, streetscaping and landscaping, and traffic calming for the Adair crossing extension plan.
The plan includes signals and pedestrian crossings at Olympic Place and at the intersection of Adair with College Ave. and Howard Ave.
Pedestrian and bicycle alternatives for the railroad crossing include: one with a shared-use path on the west side of Adair; on-street bike lanes and separate wide sidewalks for pedestrians on both sides of Adair; and dual-shared paths for pedestrians and bicycles on each side of Adair.
Traffic-calming measures could include separate buffered bike lanes on each side of Howard Ave. or a two-way bike lane on one side only.
As for aesthetics, for areas that will no longer be used for traffic one option is to create a striped shoulder and streetscape with planters currently in use. Another alternative is to use terracotta planters that would be more mobile, or the curb could be relocated and asphalt removed to add landscaping.
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