TSPLOST will be very bad for Prince Avenue. Officially called the Transportation Improvement Act, TSPLOST calls for widening Prince Avenue to provide for two five-foot bike lanes. The number of lanes for cars will stay the same, and the street will be widened by 10 feet. (The budget for Prince Avenue includes a million dollars for right-of-way acquisition.) The grass, trees and on-street parking will have to be removed, except perhaps for a bicycle detour around Normaltown. Traffic speeds will increase, and crosswalks will be even more treacherous. The same thing will be done to North Avenue and the Lexington Highway.
This cookie-cutter proposal by the Georgia Department of Transportation may very well be done without advice from our local government, which has had no input into the design. Our experience with SPLOST indicates that once we vote for it, we’ve got it, with no modifications allowed. So much for the Prince Avenue Corridor Study!
Clint McCrory
Athens
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