COMMENTARY Reporter Newspapers Our mission is to provide our readers with fresh and engaging information about life in their communities. Published by Springs Publishing LLC 6065 Roswell Road, Suite 225 Sandy Springs, GA 30328 Phone: 404-917-2200 • Fax: 404-917-2201 Brookhaven Reporter | Buckhead Reporter Dunwoody Reporter | Sandy Springs Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net Atlanta INtown www.AtlantaINtownPaper.com
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GDOT should let PATH400 extend to the north For decades we have lived in a city where interstate highways and major arterials define the spaces in which we can safely move around as pedestrians and cyclists. Neighborhoods are isolated, boxed in by wider and wider streets where it is unsafe to leave unless you are in a car. The ‘boxed-in’ lifestyle does not appeal to younger generations. They depend less on cars and more on muscle-powered transportation. Instead of fleeing density and diversity, today’s younger folks, (and even older folks like me) are drawn to walkable, bikeable communities that encourage a healthier, more communal lifestyle. The borders of these communities are not defined by the inability to cross major thoroughfares; indeed the thoroughfares have been altered to include wider sidewalks, cycle tracks for bicycles, landscaped refuge islands, and more. Doctoring up a few arterials isn’t enough to make metro Atlanta a walkable, bikeable mecca that will lure new businesses and the educated millennials they wish to employ. We need to think outside the box in order to reconnect our region and start transforming Atlanta into the ultimate friendly place for non-motorized travel. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) can take a giant leap toward this goal by including provisions for pedestrians and bicyclists in their plans to revamp the I-285/ Ga.400 interchange and widen Ga. 400 north of I-285. SpecificalSPECIAL ly, GDOT Business and government should carry the leaders donned bright green, PATH400 trail hand-made scarves and joined through the I-285 the official ribbon cutting interchange and leave room for the for PATH400 on Jan. 9.
Office Manager Deborah Davis deborahdavis@reporternewspapers.net
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Ed McBrayer is the executive director of the PATH Foundation, which has been building a network of off-road trails in metro Atlanta for 22 years and is helping build PATH400 in Buckhead.
On the record
Contributors Pat Fox, Bill Hendrick, Phil Mosier, Martha Nodar
trail north of I-285 along the edge of their widening project. They also need to provide a bicycle/pedestrian crossing of Ga. 400 that would connect Sandy Springs and Atlanta to the PATH400 trail. This interchange divides Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, and Brookhaven, into four islands with virtually no ED safe connections for pedestriMCBRAYER ans and cyclists. This is a perfect place to start knitting the region GUEST COLUMN back together on a human scale. How many residents live within a mile or two of this interchange and would jump at the chance to walk or bike to State Farm, Cox Enterprises, Northside Hospital, Perimeter Mall or MARTA if a first class facility for safely making the trip was in place? How many cars would not leave the garage as a result of people walking and biking to work? PATH is already building a trail along Ga. 400 from the Atlanta BeltLine through Buckhead to the old toll booth location. If GDOT makes provisions for the trail through the new interchange and along their widening project going north, the PATH400 trail will connect the entire Perimeter area to the Atlanta Beltline. Doesn’t this seem like a vision worth pursuing? Our organization stands ready to help GDOT design bike and pedestrian facilities into their interchange and widening projects to insure connectivity through this area is realized. You can help advance this vision by contacting your elected officials, attending the public meeting in Sandy Springs on Feb. 5 and reviewing GDOT’s plans at http://bikewalkdunwoody.org/news/call-for-action-gdot-400285-projects-addtrail-network-complete-streets/. It is time to think of transportation infrastructure in a whole new way. This is an extraordinary opportunity for Atlanta to demonstrate a commitment to providing safe, alternative transportation choices for future generations.
Read these articles from our other editions online at ReporterNewspapers.net. “Twenty-four years ago Betty said our home is too quiet. I had no idea what that would lead to. We just never stopped raising a family.” –Sandy Springs resident Phil Klein, who, with his wife, Betty, has helped raised more than 60 foster children. The couple was named the city of Sandy Springs’ Humanitarians of the Year for 2015 during a celebration on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. “We hope they’ll use our vision to do something better and move on, not stop here. This is a jumping off point for them. I have found for us that the children that we have fostered have made us better people, made us a better family.” –Betty Klein on helping care for more than 60 foster children during the past 24 years.
JAN. 23 – FEB. 5, 2015 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
“When we moved in, three weeks later is when the tornado hit, in April 1998. So in a way, even though that kind of bummed us out when we first moved in, we actually got involved with the community. ... Because of the way the neighborhood came together, we actually started meeting more people.” –Dunwoody resident Alan Wilson, on living in the Kingsley neighborhood. “We’re exploring a range of options. We have very much enjoyed being a part of the Sandy Springs community, and really being a fixture here in Sandy Springs. I’m hopeful that some of the opportunities that we are pursuing will allow us to be able to stay.” –Jamie Bendall, co-owner of the Punchline Comedy Club, on the owners’ plans to relocate the club.
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