Residents reviewed a laundry list of improvements to lighting, bike lanes, sidewalks, and more planned for some of Tucker’s major thoroughfares during an Oct. 21 meeting at Tucker City Hall.
More than 30 residents and city officials gathered for the final public information meeting on the Tucker Connects Transportation and Trails Master Plan, which offers proposals and a prioritized list of projects for the major intersections of Hugh Howell Road, Lavista Road and several neighborhoods throughout the city.
The meeting also included a review of findings from the Revive L29 Lawrenceville Highway Access Management and Beautification Study. The beautification plan includes 20 projected enhancements along Lawrenceville Highway, like landscaping and improvements to driveway aprons near the intersection of Brockett and Hugh Howell roads, and multiple sidewalk, ramp and leveling improvements near Idlewood and Brockett roads.
The Idlewood updates were of particular concern to Kevin Melvin, a cyclist who has called Tucker home since the late 1980’s. He’s experienced a number of flat tires as result of debris in the bike lanes. The unkempt bike lanes lead to more cyclists riding in car lanes, he said.
Melvin said he joined Tuesday’s meeting to ensure improvements for cyclists and Tucker’s primary downtown vein were planned.
“I would like to see them shut down Main Street permanently,” Melvin said. “It would be nice to have that all walking and cycling only, since they shut it down so often on the weekend anyway. Make it a better, safer place for everybody.”
Safety was also at the forefront for Adam Manchester, who runs the social media page Tucker by Bike. The statistics shared about bicycle crashes in Tucker proves the need for Tucker Connects and L29, Manchester said.
“I’ve seen so many people getting hit, and seeing the numbers – 46 bicycle crashes – that’s a lot,” he said. “It’s been a long, hard road to get here, but I’m really looking forward to a lot of this stuff being done to have more walkable experiences, vibrancy for younger families.”
More than 200 respondents chimed in on the dozens of operational, sidewalk, and capacity projects suggested for Tucker transportation and trails, said Kat Onore, planning operations director for Pond, the engineering and architecture firm behind the plan. Traffic congestion was the leading issue for respondents, with overall safety coming in second, and walking and biking improvements ranking third.
“They want trails. They want sidewalks. They want it to be safer,” Onore said. “Our next step is really to take [the feedback] and start sorting them into short, medium and long term plans. We’ll essentially take as many of the highest scoring projects as we can within how much money is available for the first phase of projects, which is about five years out.”
The full draft of both plans will be presented online in November, and the council will vote on the plans in coming months, Onore said.
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With Revive L29 and Tucker Connects, the community has the chance to offer feedback and see the economic benefits of the potential changes, said District 3’s council member Alexis Weaver. The L29 plan will also provide the city with continuity with the planned changes to Lawrenceville Highway proposed throughout all of the city’s districts.
“I think it’s really good in that it gives us a prioritizing mechanism and some criteria,” Weaver said Tuesday. “So when we’re having to make hard decisions, we can say, hey, there’s like an economic case to make, but there’s also a case for those who want more activity and quality of life. This is also going to help us complete our projects faster.”
Review the Tucker Connects plan here. Take a look at the projects proposed for Revive L29 here.