comment Hull Street Closure Will Form a New UGA Superblock AHA
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O NEW EWAthens If this had been the headline of Flagpole’s excellent AV EVELAND Rising column onO JulyU 7, more people might have paid attenB L tion. But a new UGA superblock is about to E is exactlyB what RD V west ofE ALumpkin happen on the evolving UGA campus Street, A decision to initiate enabled by the Mayor and Commission’s BOS E abandonment of a portion A Eof Hull Street between Broad and Baxter streets. LENO R
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Kevan’s perspective cites the Hull Street dislocation as similar to numerous other streets lost to campus encroachment, and rightly speculates that the changes to Hull Street will “ripple out to surrounding neighborhoods.” But even worse, Hull Street is far more E than a part of Athens’ WAstreet grid. It is a Icritical component of Athens’ E T ST greater arterial grid, not simply a Broadto-Baxter “shortcut” as characterized by BARR OW ST A Pete McCommons (Pub Notes, June 23) and O TH O several ACC commissioners. Since Hull’s B B ST Last weekBI wrote about how SPLOST “capacity” is arterial, driver inconvenience H MADISO A approval of the Classic Center will surely push cars either onto an already M expansion L AVE would implicitly close the eastern-most chokedTR NGLumpkin or onto residential Newton ST STRONG ST. block of Hancock Avenue This week it’s Street. ME DOUGHER Y ST. about Hull Street. But this closure involves Face it: more cars on umpkin is not an AVEis not a boulevard designed for HANCOCK AVE. HAN CIt permanent “abandonment,” requiring the option. M&C to bring it in through the front door. high-traffic flow. Lumpkin’s current threeWASHINGTON ST. Nevertheless, open-door discussion has lane configuration, hills, curves and narrow CLAYTON ST. been scant, as Mayor-Commission sophism in-town portion are constraints. But its relied on a decade-old memo to fast-track new, “smart” design accommodates mulBROAD ST. ROAD S B ROA D ST it onto the July consent agenda without tiple users reasonably safely, both downS benefit of the usual agenda report or reqtown and on campus. And, importantly, ON S RIN uisite traffic study. Next comes an obligaLumpkin remains the route-of-choice when WANA SE ST WRAY tory hearing at the M&C agenda meeting, traveling north from Five-Points, flowing ST WADDELL ON July 22, and the final hearing and vote to conveniently into aRScongested but one-way WADDELL ST abandon a portion of Hull Street is scheddowntown. IR C uled for their Aug. 3 agenda. Similarly, the return route-of-choice southward begins with a one-way Hull BAL DWI N ST CT Street and continues down Hull to Baxter, and back to Lumpkin. It is that return BAXTER ST. HOOPE . BAXTER Back whenS UGA was planning its west route that would be disrupted by the procampus, all hell broke loose when UGA posed closure of an under-appreciated, O President Adams floated the idea of closing Lumpkin Street south-directed, linear Hull Street. Instead of closure, what Hull IVE TALMADGE S RS by shifting really needs is more study, and here are some possibilities: S R it into a realigned Hull Street. Recall Cardee GDA LE Kilpatrick’s outrage? At that HAtime, ST LL ST unknown to county commisCT EL sioners or the county attorney, private discussions evolved into D V ST U S AVE C D R ST E an alternative-concept memo to retain a reconfigured Lumpkin V A R U H Street, but also to move Hull Street westward in the vicinA long-range plan might be to forget about Hull and extend ER ity of Wray Street, connecting with Florida Avenue. Now, 10 Pulaski Street across Broad and into Florida Avenue. That U HER FORDlater, ACC commissioners have been given copies of that years would be ideal for UGA, providing even larger superblocks. But ST WG T R O September, 2000 memo, Pulaski, as a two-way perimeter street (similar to Thomas), WILC but asked to approve a new twist—do DLAWN not realign Hull Street; just close off part of it. works effectively as is, and its snub intersection with Broad AVE UGA’s objective is to create a “Northwest Precinct,” encomminimizes U A N V turning conflicts. E R S here is what I propose, which would work well passing the Hull Street parking garage, library-collections F Alternatively ITY G EUGA E G both O R and building (under construction) and a new multi-structure busi for G AAthens. ness As elsewhere on campus, 1. SInstead of superblocks, provide UGA with several miniT. E quad, among other buildings. P ample provision is envisioned pedestrians, bicycles, emerblocks by closing Florida Street on either side of Waddell. R E W for O NO MILLE DGE CIR T2. Reinvent Hull. Improve it. Do not close it off. Do not gency vehicles, stormwater, shade trees, grass and flowers. I segment it. And it does not need to be relocated westward to Florida. Instead, give Hull the same treatment as Lumpkin got, i.e., “smart” design features that would both enhance its funcYes, if streets are important toNIyou! tion and accommodate the increased demands of future downT AV E In his Athens Rising column, Kevan Williams asked the same town and campus development. N TER AM PTO question: “…whether this Hstreet closing is a negligible loss, 3. Increase the one-way value of Lumpkin and Hull by N or part of a ‘death by 1000 cuts’ for the Athens street grid?” restricting left turns onto Broad, thereby eliminating turn lanes LL
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Hull Street Options
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Here’s the Deal
and encouraging cross-through use. Begin Lumpkin’s one-way travel at Wray Street. 4. Both UGA staffers and ACC commissioners cite safety issues as justifying the segmentation of Hull Street. Without question, crazy driving, cell phones and jaywalking are endemic. But the best solution is the simplest and cheapest: reduce and strictly enforce a 25 mph speed limit on both Hull and Lumpkin. 5. At the south end, accommodate traffic headed on down Lumpkin by relocating Hull eastward to a roundabout intersection with Baxter and Lumpkin. This design would be tricky, but “slip-lanes” could accommodate much of the traffic without even having to enter the roundabout. 6. The roundabout would offer mid-street crossing refuge for pedestrians at Lumpkin and Baxter. But pedestrians and bikers would be better served by bridges (currently not proposed by UGA). 7. UGA plans to enlarge the Hull Street parking garage, adding even more cars and more congestion to the Baxter intersection. Therefore, create alternative access to the garage across Tanyard Creek onto Newton and its signalized intersection with Baxter. 8. Design Hull as a continuous and linear street, complete for cars, bikes and pedestrians—safe enough even for spaceyeyed academics, serving both town and gown. Enhance its arterial function. Include rain gardens, plant the trees and flowers, and do not forget about the 25 mph enforcement.
Confidential for County Commissioners
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Streets are urban arteries, facilitating commerce and business and every other activity known to mankind. They surely have more value than any other urban space so should never be given away carelessly. Indeed, reflecting that higher public value, the Georgia Code specifies procedures to be followed for street abandonment (OCGA §32-7-2); also some tricky provisions for conveyance (OCGA §32-7-4), about which your agenda report says absolutely nothing. I assume you will follow those procedures. But don’t you think the public would be interested in knowing about both sides of this deal? In addition, you surely understand that your responsibility is far higher than following OCGA requisites; and that wellfunctioning streets expand travel options, not shrink them. We all luv ya, UGA. But please understand that Hull Street is way more than asphalt on red dirt, and any determination that y’all can make better use of that real estate than its current public users carries a heavy burden of proof. Unfortunately, that sort of proof was totally missing from the M&C’s July agenda report. And aside from vague “safety concerns” or “nobody uses that street anyway,” I haven’t heard it anywhere else. But there’s still time for you to tell us—to explain what is the compelling public purpose served by this abandonment, and what is the compensating public benefit. Also, we already know how Hull Street functions now. Before you part with it and as guardians of the public interest, please tell us: What is your plan to assure us that the remaining area-wide streets will continue to function at least as well 50 or 100 years into the future without a linear Hull Street? The public needs to know soon, so we can let you know if it equitably serves us.
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Carl Jordan Carl Jordan is a former District 6 Athens-Clarke County commissioner.
JULY 21, 2010 · FLAGPOLE.COM
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