Separated Bike Lanes, Traffic Calming Coming to Decatur Street

A 'people-friendly' makeover is underway in Decatur, Georgia, where the Clairemont-Commerce-Church Street Pedestrian Safety and Bicycle Trail improvement program is transforming a mile of Church Street into a safer, more walkable and bikeable corridor with separated cycletracks and wider sidewalks that will replace two vehicle lanes. As Josh Green writes in Urbanize Atlanta, "The result should make Church Street feel less residential highway and more parkway, where traffic naturally slows down, project leaders say." 

"Closer to downtown Decatur, the project will improve pedestrian crossings, eliminate 'slip lanes' for cars, and bring the cycle track around to connect with existing bike lanes on Commerce Drive," Green goes on to explain. The $4 million project is funded in large part through grants from Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Department of Transportation and is expected to take over a year to complete. "But the payoff will be an attractive and safer pedestrian and bicycle-oriented urban street," according to the deputy city manager.

"In recent years, Decatur and its partners have installed protected bike lanes and cycle tracks on the eastern fringes of downtown along Commerce Drive and in front of Decatur High School." Green notes that Decatur recently became the smallest city to achieve the Walk Friendly Communities "Gold Level Walk Friendly Community" rating.