Grady Student killed crossing Monroe and BeltLine (Ideal, Moreland: apartment, restaurant)

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The costs is very high and removing peds/cyclists from streets does not solve the speeding issue, only makes it worse. Peds/cyclists should be visible and drivers know they cannot just speed thru our neighborhoods.

Disagree here big time. There will be too much volume for both to interact. I understand the principle, but practically it is a bad choice. There are too many cars, too many peds and eventually trains for one intersection. If they don't do it soon, grade separation will happen eventually and it will be even more expensive.

Do you think it would be better if the Beltline had more intersections with roads? The beauty of the Beltline is grade separation. The worst parts of the Beltline experience are when it hits a road. No amount of traffic calming or driver education will change that.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Disagree here big time. There will be too much volume for both to interact. I understand the principle, but practically it is a bad choice. There are too many cars, too many peds and eventually trains for one intersection. If they don't do it soon, grade separation will happen eventually and it will be even more expensive.

Do you think it would be better if the Beltline had more intersections with roads? The beauty of the Beltline is grade separation. The worst parts of the Beltline experience are when it hits a road. No amount of traffic calming or driver education will change that.

Irwin is not getting grade separation, so neither will this intersection. If you look at all the sub area planning docs, the BeltLine was never planning to add grade separated intersection, but use those that exist from the railroads.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Disagree here big time. There will be too much volume for both to interact. I understand the principle, but practically it is a bad choice. There are too many cars, too many peds and eventually trains for one intersection. If they don't do it soon, grade separation will happen eventually and it will be even more expensive.

Do you think it would be better if the Beltline had more intersections with roads? The beauty of the Beltline is grade separation. The worst parts of the Beltline experience are when it hits a road. No amount of traffic calming or driver education will change that.

I agree with all of this. I understand CQ's point, but it's utopian and dangerous in equal measure. There are some places where cars and peds should not interact, and this intersection has demonstrated repeatedly that it's one of those places.

Creating an underpass for Beltline users does not automatically mean the road becomes a speedway. There's no reason why they couldn't build a tunnel and incorporate traffic calming devices on the roadway.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Irwin is not getting grade separation, so neither will this intersection.

These two intersections are not similar and should not be treated as if they're equal.

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Irwin is not getting grade separation, so neither will this intersection. If you look at all the sub area planning docs, the BeltLine was never planning to add grade separated intersection, but use those that exist from the railroads.

I'm honestly surprised that it isn't in the "far out" plans. No amount of traffic calming or design will fix the intense congestion that will happen here. Everybody's life will be made better by grade separation

[dtbatlanta]

So sad. I have no idea who was at fault but it is a preventable tragedy. I saw this on the news the other day and think it would be great for places like this. It is more for pedestrians but could help a heavily trafficked walkway.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.popul...ns-smartphone/

[cqholt]

Father of fallen explains why we need to design our roads for people instead of cars.

Monroe Drive Road Diet will save lives and improve quality of life - SaportaReport

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Father of fallen explains why we need to design our roads for people instead of cars.

Mr. Hyneman makes a compelling case. Let's do it.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Father of fallen explains why we need to design our roads for people instead of cars.

Monroe Drive Road Diet will save lives and improve quality of life - SaportaReport

Powerful stuff:

I prefer to be direct so I will get right to it. A road diet on Monroe Drive could have saved my daughter’s life. A road diet, converting the four-lane road to three with a center turn lane, improves visibility and discourages speeding, so that even if my daughter had been hit, she would have had a much better chance of walking away from the crash...

Yep, even if these road diets didn't have a single other benefit (like improved traffic flow, encouraging healthier transportation options, better urban environment, etc.) they should be done purely to save lives.

Terrorist and criminals don't murder near as many people as cars. Safety from cars deserves at least as much of our attention and sacrifice. I don't care if you have to downsize your home by 100sf to commute to work in the same amount of time. People are dying.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Terrorist and criminals don't murder near as many people as cars. Safety from cars deserves at least as much of our attention and sacrifice. I don't care if you have to downsize your home by 100sf to commute to work in the same amount of time. People are dying.

More specifically, I'd put the blame on careless and/or speeding drivers and inadequate road design. Cars are just the implement.

And I don't think anybody needs to downsize their home to make the necessary improvements.