Category: Traffic

North Druid Hills LCI

Jesse Thompson Leave a comment

From Commissioner Jeff Rader:

Earlier this year, DeKalb County was awarded a grant to develop a long-range plan for development in the North Druid Hills Road corridor from Buford Highway to Clairmont Road. The county commissioners accepted a bid from an outside company, Arcadis, to conduct the study and write a plan. Public participation and feedback will be a major and leading part of the study. The plan will address three primary issues -- transportation, land use and connectivity. How to alleviate the traffic congestion in the corridor? How to manage future development in order to become a Lifelong Community (see paragraph above)? How to improve access to and from the corridor to other pockets within the district? The cost of the study is $150,000 with 80 percent coming from the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) via its Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) program. The other 20 percent of the funding is from the county's general transportation fund. To read my lengthier discussion of the North Druid Hills LCI: http://www.commissionerrader.com/news/news244.html. For information about the LCI: http://www.atlantaregional.com/html/308.aspx.

Traffic alert: Avoid Emory area

Jesse Thompson Leave a comment

By CHIP TOWERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, May 11, 2009

Emory University police are asking motorists to avoid the area until after 9:30 a.m. this morning and again from 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. this afternoon due to heavy traffic congestion created by graduation ceremonies.

Vicente Fox Quesada, who was the President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, is the commencement speaker for this morning’s ceremonies. More than 15,000 people are expected, according to the school’s website.

“It’s already heavy right now,” a police dispatcher of the traffic. Every officer in the department is on duty, police said.

LCI Grant Funds North Druid Hills Corridor Planning

Jesse Thompson

by Jeff Rader

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

When it comes to government action, the best preventive measure is to have a plan beforehand. Otherwise, a rushed decision could require more money and time to cure the problem.

All too often, county governments make decisions in a "silo", that is, looking at only some of the relevant facts. Capital spending decisions are based on the merits of building or upgrading a specific facility. Zoning application decisions are based on the merits of a developer's proposal for a specific parcel. These decisions are often made without the benefit of a relevant and specific comprehensive plan for an area, district or county. Read More

Duany/Dunham-Jones Lecture and Book Signing at Holy Trinity in Decatur

Jesse Thompson

Title: Duany/Dunham-Jones Lecture and Book Signing at Holy Trinity in Decatur
Location: Holy Trinity Church ( 515 East Ponce de Leon Avenue ) in Decatur
Description: Per Commissioner Jeff Rader:

Recently the Atlanta Regional Commission awarded a Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) planning grant to DeKalb County Commission District 2 to study transportation and development issues in the North Druid Hills Corridor from
Buford Highway
to
Clairmont Road
. As you know, this corridor serves some of the region’s most desirable neighborhoods, but also carries heavy commuter traffic, and is the target of many redevelopment proposals. The planning grant (and the project funding that can follow it) is an important resource for exploring development options and alleviating transportation problems. As we prepare for the study to begin, I\'d like to invite you an event of interest to us all.

On April 16, 2009, from 5:30-8:00pm Georgia Tech Professor Ellen Dunham Jones and Architect Andres Duany will speak at Holy Trinity Church (515 East Ponce de Leon Avenue) in Decatur. The event is free and open to the public.

The future of close-in suburban areas like ours is a topic of intensive research and creative effort in the planning and design community, and our speakers are in the forefront of that effort. Andres Duany, a leader in the New Urbanism movement, recently led design studios for a group of six sites in the region, including one in Toco Hills. Ellen Dunham Jones, Associate Professor and Director of Architecture Research at Georgia Institute of Technology, has just completed the new book Retrofitting Suburbia, which is included in the March 18 TIME Magazine article: “10 Ideas Changing the World”.
Our LCI effort will be a locally focused and data-intensive study over the summer and fall, with frequent community meetings and consultant support. To participate effectively, we can become more knowledgeable about the problems that confront us and strategies to address them. This event can help us to achieve that goal. So I hope you will join me in welcoming these notable planners to District 2 at Holy Trinity Church on April 16, 2009 at 5:30PM, for a thought provoking lecture.
Start Time: 17:30
Date: 2009-04-16
End Time: 20:00