Athens-Clarke County is applying for a $1 million federal grant to plan improvements for two of Athens’ most dangerous corridors—Hawthorne and Oglethorpe avenues.
Hawthorne Avenue and Alps Road between Prince Avenue and Baxter Street contain five of ACC’s 10 most dangerous intersections, and Oglethorpe between Prince and Mitchell Bridge Road includes two of the 50 most dangerous road segments, according to a letter of support approved by the transportation advisory group Athens in Motion.
ACC previously applied for a $25 million RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) grant for Hawthorne Avenue from the U.S. Department of Transportation. That application wasn’t approved, but it did make it all the way to Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s desk, ACC Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator Daniel Sizemore told the Athens in Motion Commission last week. The county did win a $25 million RAISE grant for North Avenue last year, and that project “is moving along,” Sizemore said, with public input scheduled for September and October.
In other transportation updates, construction has started on the Carr’s Creek section of the North Oconee River Greenway connecting the Eastside to UGA’s East Campus, Park Planning Coordinator Todd Miller said. The county is also acquiring construction easements for the third phase of Firefly Trail between Winterville and Hancock Road, with construction scheduled to start early next year.
A multi-use path along most of Riverbend Road between College Station Road and Milledge Avenue will be Athens in Motion’s next bike project, Sizemore said, followed by Cherokee Road.
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