Decatur, GA — The Georgia Department of Transportation is working to add two roundabouts on Ponce de Leon Avenue. The agency met with residents and government officials at one location in the fall to discuss the project. About six months later, residents say they have seen no visible action.
The roundabouts would be placed at Ponce de Leon Avenue and East Lake Road and Scott Boulevard and West Ponce De Leon Avenue.
“Based on the traffic engineering study (data-driven safety analysis) and community feedback from several meetings held in 2019 and 2020, we believe the roundabouts are the preferred alternative for a safety project at these two locations,” State Safety Engineer Manager Sam Harris previously said.
Harris said the main concern GDOT has heard from the community is speed, crash severity and crash frequency along Ponce de Leon, also called State Route 8.
“The design of a roundabout changes the context of the intersection, resulting in an effective way for managing speeds and reduced conflict points,” Harris said. “Lower vehicle speeds and reduced conflicts can also create a more suitable environment for our vulnerable roadways users, such as pedestrians and bicyclists.”
The project is currently in the concept phase. There’s no official start date yet. The roundabouts could cost $6 million. The project is scheduled for letting in fall 2026.
“The project is still in the conceptual design phase of gathering the various studies of environment, soil, traffic volume, and etc. and we’re still on track to have all those surveys/studies done by the spring,” a spokesperson from GDOT said. “So we won’t see any solid updates on the results of the studies until spring 2023.”
Decatur resident Karen Phillips said the intersection at Scott Boulevard and West Ponce de Leon Avenue has become an increasingly dangerous area due to various vehicle crashes. Neighbors in the area reported a crash on Feb. 26.
DeKalb Police said the incident…
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