Paine Gets the Roundabout

Unsafe Druid Parkstudied after a year of inaction By Eric Johnson   A year agoPaineCollegedrafted an official letter requesting the closure ofDruid Park Ave. “We sent that letter a year ago to the mayor and copied the city administrator asking for something to be done, and an entire year went by,” says Paine Vice President Brandon Brown. “So we then followed up with a letter to all the commissioners asking for something to be done, which yielded us to get on the agenda.” Brown feels the speed of the traffic headed downDruidParkand its unwillingness to obey posted laws are contributing to form an unsafe environment for students and community members. “We have posted state signs that cars are supposed to yield to pedestrians when crossing through the crosswalk, but many cars don’t stop,” he says. “In past years, we’ve had individuals struck by a car and we’ve had numerous close calls. As that area continues to develop with the new Health Education and Activities Learning (HEAL) Complex, we felt as though this was an appropriate time to try to have the measure addressed.” Brown says the safest way to protect students and community members who cross would be to close it down. It is a request not unlike the one made byGeorgiaHealthSciencesUniversityconcerningLaney Walker Blvd. “We understand that it is a utilized pass through and that many people use it, so this is something we’ve been trying to get in front of the mass audience for some time,” Brown says. At the last round of full committee meetings, Commissioner Alvin Mason took issue with the amount of time Paine had been waiting for a response and pushed for a meeting between city engineers and officials from Paine. According to Administrator Fred Russell, closing the road is now off the table following the meeting. Instead, the city is recommending narrowing the road and possibly adding a traffic circle or roundabout. A traffic circle would work to slow down traffic, and Assistant Director of Traffic Engineering Steve Cassell has said he has SPLOST money available to put toward such a project. Though Brown emphasizes that Paine doesn’t want to do anything that would hinder or hurt the community, he says he feels an obligation to ensure the safety of his students and the community members who use the chapel and other buildings. “Folks from all across the community use the chapel for funerals and weddings,” he says. “The new HEAL Center will have wedding receptions, church events, basketball games, educational seminars and graduations, so foot traffic is going to be picking up over there.” He says a full capacity event at the chapel would involve 1,200 people. A home basketball game at the HEAL Center would add 2,400. Throw in the student population and there is a potential of 4,000 people in that corridor. Regal Cinemas blocks off the ability to drive right in front of the theater, he says. They’re just looking for similar measures. What’s clear after the meeting is that those measures won’t come in the form of a road closure, and while studying the options now being considered will probably take six months, Russell did advise that the speed limit onDruidParkbe reduced to 25 miles per hour as soon as possible. Apparently it had never been designated as a school zone.You Might Also Like: