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Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Safer streets and skate park talks focus of Albany meetings
ALBANY – Developments in pedestrian safety and recreation moved forward this week in Albany while other proposed developments stalled. The first part of the week saw discussions about the future of Albany's skate park in an Albany Recreation and Parks meeting, as well as the second and final open house for input on the city and county's Safer Streets for All grant. Both projects aim to make Albany and Dougherty a safer and better place for the community. Foresite, the engineer and consulting group developing a plan to improve local road and pedestrian safety, hosted the final open house Tuesday to inform the community while also gathering suggestions. Doug Stoner, Foresite's director of business development, said the SS4A grant is the first time the Federal Highway Administration has given grants directly to local governments. The grant has $1 billion in funds to be used across the country for safety-related projects. The group displayed slideshows and posters with data, including locations of 'high injury networks,' where the most vehicle accidents with injuries or fatalities occur. Sections along Oglethorpe Boulevard were highlighted most frequently. Kathy Culberth, a 68-year-old Albany resident, said she often feels unsafe driving at night, especially on Oglethorpe Boulevard and Oakridge Drive, due to a lack of lighting making it difficult to see road medians and pedestrians. She told representatives from Foresite that she'd like to see more lights, signage and bike lanes. These suggestions are potential measures that could result from Foresite's data findings. Recommendations can be both physical – like more signage – or policy-oriented, like an educational campaign on wearing seatbelts. The group already has proposed measures for some dangerous intersections. These are projected to reduce accidents by as many as 11 per year in particularly high-incident areas. Erik Steavens, Foresite's transportation program manager, said the number of car accidents are spread evenly across the city and county. He said most of the accidents are behavioral in nature rather than due to faulty infrastructure. Data found that many car accidents and injuries occurred due to excessive speeding, unfastened seat belts, distracted driving and not obeying signage. 'You look at almost every intersection in Albany, and there's been some sort of incident or accident, maybe not fatal or serious,' Steavens said. The city and county will be reviewing Foresite's completed plan by late April. Steavens said it'll be a competitive year across the country to receive the grant, as local governments scramble for the federal funds out of concern that they will soon no longer be available under the current administration. While the Safer Streets for All plan development moved forward, movement on the project to build a new skate park hit a wall Monday. Alex Ranew, the president and founder of Southwest Georgia Skate, a nonprofit that formed after the demolition of Albany's Riverfront Skatepark, presented potential locations for a new skate park at the Albany Recreation and Parks meeting Monday. Since the demolition of the Riverfront Skatepark, groups of skaters have been gathering at Riverfront Park with makeshift ramps and obstacles. Still, Ranew said they need a safe place to congregate. This was Ranew's second time speaking at one of these meetings. The first was to get across the significant impact the skate park had had on the Albany community and why it was crucial to rebuild a new one with the city's help. He came to the first meeting equipped with expectations, standards and logistics for the new skate park. Albany Mayor Bo Dorough was not present for the first meeting but attended the second. Ranew said he left Monday's meeting feeling that the skate park project isn't being taken seriously by city leaders. Ranew presented several potential locations. Some were already owned by the city or county, like Riverfront Park or the Albany Civic Center Parking lot. Others, like a space across from the skate park's old location at 200 East Broad St., would have to be purchased. Dorough expressed confusion on whether SWGA Skate wanted the city to be involved in the project. Ranew said he believes this confusion stems from Dorough's absence from the first meeting. 'He was asking me questions that I answered at the last meeting,' Ranew said. 'I feel like he was pessimistic.' Ranew was clear about wanting to partner with the city. Leaders continued to push for a potential new skate park at Tift Park, which has other recreation developments in play. Dorough said this would make things like maintenance of the park easier on city staff and allow for the use of existing facilities like bathrooms. The SWGA Skate crew has been adamant that the new park location needs to be downtown, mainly for accessibility. City Manager Terrell Jacobs said if the city is going to use SPLOST funds to aid in building a new skate park that it must be an amenity that will benefit the entire community – 'not just a segment of the community.' 'We don't mean to say 'we're going to pay for it so we're going to do it our way,'' Dorough said. 'We want you to be included. If y'all want to partner with us, we're excited about it. … I'm just not convinced that downtown is the only place people skateboard.' Ward IV Commissioner Chad Warbington brought up the potential of using the old site once GDOT is finished using it for the Oglethorpe Bridge Project, which is supposed to be completed in a year. There was discussion of the former Rabbit Man store that bordered the park being turned into some other retail spot like a smoothie shop with WiFi. Ranew said he didn't know that the original skate park location was an option, and that it would be ideal. 'We just need to make sure it won't be destroyed,' he said. 'We want to make sure that the skate park will be there.' He also expressed concerns to The Albany Herald about the Oglethorpe Bridge project being delayed for more than a year, thus delaying the building of a new skate park. Ranew said he left Monday's meeting disheartened at the speed of the project and that a location had not yet been pinpointed. 'Our current plan is to keep gathering together and thinking of solutions until we can get a skate park built,' he said.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Albany, Dougherty County receive grant for safer streets. Community asked to provide input
ALBANY – On a Thursday afternoon, cars zip by Dajia Baker on Albany's Pine Avenue as she pushes a large stroller carrying the seven-month-old she babysits. The two-year-old sibling stands next to them between her and her best friend – a barrier from zooming cars and trucks. The 22-year-old peers cautiously at traffic, trying to cross the street to return home. The stroller teeters on the edge of a narrow sidewalk. On the side she's trying to get to, there is no sidewalk. The group is returning from Turtle Park, which Baker feels is the safest place to bring kids in Albany. The walk to get there – not so much. 'The sidewalks are really not perfect, and there's not much space,' she said. 'It's sometimes really uncomfortable walking, especially longer distances.' Baker said she often has to push the stroller in the street because of a lack of sidewalks or because of the poor state existing ones are in. She makes this journey about three times a week, nervous about speeding cars who drive close by. If the city is addressing pedestrian and road safety needs, she said she'd like to see more sidewalks, more stop signs, more accountability when it comes to speeding cars and more street lights. 'It's really scary to walk at a certain time at night because people really can't see you,' Baker said. Albany and Dougherty County held the first Safe Streets & Roads public meeting March 11 as part of The Albany Dougherty County Comprehensive Safety Action Plan: Getting to Zero. The community received a Safe Streets for All (SS4A) grant, through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that will fund over a billion dollars of safety related projects across the country. To qualify for this funding, the community must create a comprehensive safety action plan that combines safety related crash data with public input to create a 'high injury network,' or an area to focus funding to reduce or eliminate traffic related deaths or injuries. Albany and Dougherty hired Foresite, an engineer, landscape architect and consulting group to put together the plan. One of the places the city plans to add extra sidewalks is along East Broad Avenue, where sidewalks crumble and turn into dirt for long stretches. Robin Cailloux, the transportation project manager, said it is normally a 10-month process to design the safety action plan. However, to qualify for the next round of funding, the project must be completed and adopted by April. She said the decision to speed up the process comes from uncertainty at the federal level about whether these funds will still be available after the next round. 'We are basically doing ten months of work in ten weeks,' she said. 'For us to make sure the community, your community, has access to those federal funds, we need to get it done this round.' Cailloux said the first step is to gather data: where are the accidents happening? Why are they happening? Who is being injured or killed in these accidents – seniors, pedestrians or distracted drivers? Cailloux said Foresite's analysis shows the community is doing 'okay,' but has room for improvement. The group identified high injury network areas as well as top injury intersections and corridors. These include: Top Injury Intersections:Dawson Rd @ Meredyth DrMobile Ave @ Moultrie RdMoultrie Rd @County Line RdN Westover Blvd @ Dawson RdN Westover Blvd @ Old Dawson RdNelms Rd @ Liberty :ExpwyOglethorpe Blvd @ Cason StOglethorpe Blvd @ Loftus DrOglethorpe Blvd @ Radium Springs RdPine Bluff Rd @ Sylvester RdRadium Springs Rd @ E Oakridge DrS Broadway St @ E Broad AveS County Line Rd @ Sylvester HwyS Harding St @ Cedar Ave 410S Madison St @ Oglethorpe BlvdSundale Rd @ Rosebrier AveSylvester Hwy @ Hill RdW Broad Ave @N Jefferson StW Gordon Ave @ Elm StW Oakridge Dr @ Martin Luther King Dr Top Injury Corridors:Dawson Rd from Pointe North Blvd to Slappey BlvdE Broad Ave from N Broadway St to Blaylock StE Oglethorpe Blvd from Radium Springs Dr to Sands DrEight Mile Rd from Walker Ducker Station Rd to Leary RdGillionville Rd from Flowing Well Rd to Springfield DrGravel Hill Rd from Nelms Rd to County boundaryLiberty Expwy from N Jefferson to Nelms RdMoultrie Rd from Wildflower Ln to Nelms RdMoultrie Rd Slappey Blvd from W Oglethorpe Blvd to Oakridge DrN Jefferson St from County line to Liberty ExpwyN Westover Blvd from Nottingham Way to Westgate Dr Newton Rd from Vanderbilt Rd to Leary RdNottingham Way from Ledo Rd to Whispering Pines Rd from Radium Springs Rd from Oglethorpe BlvdTarva Rd from Leary Rd to County boundaryW Oglethorpe Blvd from S Madison St to Front S From 2019 to 2023, Albany saw 15,143 car crashes, 57 of which were fatal, according to a GDOT database. This can be compared to Warner Robins, GA, which has a similar population size but saw nearly 5,000 less car crashes and nearly half the number of fatal ones. Next, the group is looking for community input. The next public meeting will be March 25 at 2:30 p.m. at the Government Center. Cailloux called this the 'bread and butter' meeting. Then, the group will start posing physical infrastructure and/or policy recommendations. Grady O'Neal, a lifelong Albany resident and youth pastor at St. Stephens Baptist Church, was one of the first to show up at the March 11 open house. Grady O'Neal fills out a Foresite form at a public meeting on safer roads in Albany. Staff photo: Lucille LanniganHe said safety on the roads in Albany is a real concern, and sidewalks are important to give pedestrians an opportunity to be safe while walking. 'I think we're getting better, but I think we have a long way to go as well, especially in some of the worse communities, especially the south side and east side of Albany,' O'Neal said. O'Neal brought up Washington Street near the railroad tracks to the Foresite group as well. He said he worries for the large number of homeless people that walk throughout the area. 'There have been some accidents that have happened there that could have been prevented had we had sidewalks in the area,' O'Neal said. 'We have to make sure that we also take care of the less fortunate by giving them safety while they're walking.' Some of the sidewalk discrepancy throughout the city of Albany can be explained by old and new development. Angel Gray, the Deputy Director for Planning & Zoning, told The Albany Herald during a July interview that zoning has a lot to do with sidewalk coverage. 'If you're looking at corridors, the new developments … do have sidewalks,' Gray said. 'If you're looking at older communities or communities that are high density residential, it may be older residential in nature, and so there would not have been a requirement.' The city has some development requirements for apartment complexes or businesses to create connection sidewalks if put in next to a site that already has an existing sidewalk. 'That would be a part of our development requirements, as we move forward in seeing that in the future sidewalks are promoted,' Gray said. Tanner Anderson, a city transportation planner, used Dawson Road as an example. 'It's mixed between commercial and residential,' he said. 'You run into the ordinance where you have a new development coming in and they put a sidewalk in, and whatever is next door that's not developed doesn't have a sidewalk. It looks like sidewalks are sporadic, but it's all part of the process.' Anderson said pedestrian safety is a priority for the city of Albany, and the SS4A grant is the necessary step forward. 'When you look at pedestrian safety, that means putting in sidewalks, crosswalks, anything to keep traffic and people away from each other,' he said. 'Everybody's goal at the end of the day is to make sure pedestrians are safe on the road.' Albany, Dougherty residents can give input at
