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The Alliance to Improve Emory Village Announcements |
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Community Update on Emory Village Revitalization Learn about progress toward revitalizing Emory Village at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 24, 2006, at a community meeting at Glenn Fellowship Hall, 1660 at North Decatur Road, hosted by the Alliance to Improve Emory Village and the Glenn Outreach Committee. Residents of the Druid Hills neighborhood, business people, and Emory employees are invited to the presentation which will focus on zoning overlays, design guidelines, and timelines, including traffic improvements scheduled to begin next year. The Alliance to Improve Emory Village is a partnership of residents, businesses, and Emory. AIEV’s mission is to create a safe, walkable, economically viable, mixed use community that is an asset to the surrounding historic neighborhoods and Emory University. For more information, visit www.emoryvillage.org or send email to aiev@emoryvillage.org.
Selected References on Modern Roundabouts and Traffic Calming U.S. Department of Transportation Modern Roundabouts: The Web Site Stacy Finz Roundabouts and Traffic Circles City of Portland, OR New York State Department of Transportation
Road Diets: Losing Width and Gaining Respect This March 1999 article, by Dan Burden and Peter Lagerwey, is from the Walkable Communities, Inc., website. The article provides an overview of road diets (losing lanes and width) and discusses their impacts on mobility and access, safety, and commercial and residential development. Examples of actual road diet experiences for several communities are presented, including East Lansing, MI; Kirkland, WA; Seattle, WA; and Toronto, Ontario. Brief summaries and links to additional road diet experiences in more than a dozen other cities is also presented. To download the Road Diets article, click here.
Previous Announcements EMORY VILLAGE REVITALIZATION PROJECT UPDATE An update of developments in the efforts to revitalize Emory Village was
presented at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 28, 2005, at a community meeting in the
fellowship hall of Glenn Memorial Church School Building, 1660 N. Decatur
Road. Residents of Druid Hills, business owners, and the Emory and Clifton
Corridor communities were invited to the presentation. The primary focus of
the meeting was to give community members an opportunity to provide
feedback on options for paving materials, landscaping and furniture
(benches, streetlamps, bike racks, etc.). Representatives from consultant
EDAW Inc. were on hand to answer questions and present concept plans.
EMORY VILLAGE TRAFFIC STUDY RESULTS Forthcoming, Druid Hills
News, Fall 2004 Community welcomes updated A large crowd gathered in White Hall on the Emory campus on the evening
of Tuesday, August 17th, to listen and respond to presentations on the
updated traffic plans for Emory Village and the surrounding area. In the
audience were Druid Hills residents, Village business owners and merchants,
and representatives of Emory University, the Alliance to Improve Emory
Village (AIEV), DeKalb County government, the Atlanta Regional Commission,
and the Clifton Corridor community. Presenters included Tom Walsh of the
AIEV Board, urban design consultant Peter Drey of Peter Drey and Company,
and traffic engineer Brian Bolick of URS Corporation. A lively question-and-answer
period and many positive comments followed the presentations. What has changed since March? Discussions centered about the revisions to the Emory Village revitalization plan as a result of input from a community meeting held last March. At that meeting, AIEV presented recommendations that called for a roundabout (traffic circle) and accompanying road diet along North Decatur Road as a means of making access to the village more pedestrian-friendly and improving traffic flow. Major changes to the proposed roundabout configuration presented at the August community meeting are threefold - (1) The left turn from north Oxford Road onto North Decatur Road has been reinstated. (2) Emory University has proposed that Dowman Drive be a one-way road, with traffic entering the campus only. (3) A public park will be created along north Oxford Road. Emory Village planning has moved ahead steadily from its inception in 1999 with extensive community input, initially facilitated by former Atlanta planning commissioner Leon Eplan, now with the Urban Land Institute, and the Georgia Institute of Technology Urban Design Workshop. AIEV, which was formed in May 2001, secured funding from Emory University, DeKalb County, and the Druid Hills Civic Association to engage Peter Drey and Company to assist in the translation of the ideas generated through the community workshops into a revitalization plan. AIEV obtained subsequent funding from the Atlanta Regional Commission, through its Livable Cities Initiative, and DeKalb County to support the transportation and related public improvements needed to implement the plan. As part of the planning process, AIEV considered several options to improve traffic flow and increase pedestrian and vehicle safety in Emory Village. Some configurations did not work, either because of community concerns or significant increases in traffic delays during peak travel hours. As a result of computerized modeling with recent traffic data, AIEV and its consultants have identified an option that improves traffic and pedestrian flow to and through the Village and minimizes any adverse impacts on the surrounding community.
Goals that have guided AIEV consultants during the planning process derive from community participation in numerous public meetings. These include creating an urban village that promotes safety, walkability and compactness, economic viability, and mixed-use development (primarily retail and residential) that will serve Druid Hills and Emory University. Here are some specifics from the Emory Village revitalization plan. AIEV is committed to retaining all historic buildings as essential to the aesthetic character of the Village. Zoning revisions will permit buildings that will accommodate retail on the first floor and offices or residences on the upper floors. New buildings will be constructed close to the sidewalks without parking lots in front. Sidewalks will be wider. Parking will be hidden behind (or beneath) the buildings, and parallel on-street parking will be permitted. Trees will line the streets and offer shade to pedestrians. Sidewalk cafes will be permitted, and retailers may have displays on the sidewalks in front of their shops. The plan also calls for bike lanes to be added from Lullwater to Clifton Road. A small park will be designed for the end of North Oxford in front of Jimmy's Chevron. Trees in the park will beautify and shade the intersection. A roundabout at the Oxford, Dowman and North Decatur intersection can be an attractive spot and will dramatically reduce the amount of pavement in the intersection.
The big issue has been to civilize traffic and improve the pedestrian environment in the Village while maintaining or improving the safety and functionality of the traffic system. Two innovations you have read about in earlier editions of the Druid Hills News are the Emory Village roundabout and the road diet along North Decatur Road. These will improve the area by slowing traffic and eliminating queues for traffic light changes. In response to community participation, the Village roundabout has been shifted slightly, and cars using North Oxford will have full access to North Decatur Road. Emory University's decision to make Dowman Drive one-way inbound to the campus made it possible to shift the roundabout. The present-day intersection is manifestly inconvenient and unsafe for
pedestrians. AIEV monitored pedestrian behavior at the crosswalks and
found that the majority of pedestrians don't even bother to push the crosswalk
buttons. Even when they do so, most people do not obey the traffic signals.
Pedestrian crosswalks near the roundabout and on North Decatur will increase
functionality and safety for residents and students. DeKalb County safety
records show there were 36 automobile accidents in a 36-month period at
the intersection of North Decatur Road, Oxford Road and Dowman Drive.
Where roundabouts have been implemented, car crashes have fallen dramatically. Traffic may move more slowly, but it is steadier. Drivers feel less frustration and do not speed up to "make" lights. With a lower velocity, there is less chance of personal injury and serious damage to vehicles in an accident.
AIEV will now move into the design phase for the Emory Village revitalization plan. EDAW, a nationally recognized planning firm and URS, a traffic engineering firm, have been hired to complete the design and develop construction documents. More community input will be needed to work out many details and fine points in the revitalization plan. Design work will be completed over the next twelve months, and construction of the public improvements is expected to begin soon thereafter. The White Hall audience was excited by these prospects.
Emory Village Revitalization Plan Receives Major Commitment from ARC and DeKalb County A community vision - to make Emory Village a premiere mixed-use community to serve the Emory University, Druid Hills area- received its third major boost this year. Earlier, DeKalb County provided funds to test traffic related plans. Next, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) decided to make the Emory Village Revitalization Plan eligible for future funding. Now, just this week, the ARC followed up with the funding for the public sector improvements crucial to the resurgence of Emory Village. The ARC funds will be used to reconstruct the main intersection, widen and improve sidewalks, plant shade trees, remove dangerous angled parking and construct a small park. The funds come from the Livable Centers Initiative, whose goal is to encourage walking communities in metropolitan Atlanta and fight sprawl. Construction could begin as early as next summer. "This is very significant," said Davis Fox, Vice Chairman of the Alliance to Improve Emory Village (AIEV). DeKalb County will receive $192,000 in 2003 to prepare engineering drawings for Emory Village. In 2004, ARC will provide two million dollars for improvements to North Decatur Road, Oxford Road and the sidewalks. DeKalb County and AIEV must add a 20 percent match to take advantage of the grant for the construction work. "There are several reasons we received these funds," said Fox. "First, we have a sound plan built around citizen participation and advice from an excellent team of consultants. Second, we had a consensus among Druid Hills residents, Emory University officials and Emory Village business owners. But the decisive key to winning these funds was that ARC saw a strong local commitment from DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones and the Board of Commissioners." The AIEV hired a team of consultants led by Peter Drey + Company to prepare a revitalization plan, with input from all interested parties, who gave their enthusiastic approval to the final plan, presented to the community in May 2002. A distinctive feature is residential housing to be built over retail along more pedestrian-friendly streets. Still to be determined is the reconfiguration of the intersection at North Decatur Road, Oxford Road and Dowman Drive. The revitalization plan calls for a roundabout along a narrower North Decatur Road. Instead of four travel lanes, North Decatur would be reduced to two travel lanes, one turning lane, bicycle lanes, parallel parking and broad sidewalks with street trees. "In the near future Emory Village will become a safe and attractive walking and biking destination for Druid Hills neighbors and all of the Emory University, Clifton Corridor area," said Kathie Gannon, AIEV Treasurer. "The Village can become an important asset to the neighborhood and give Druid Hills an even stronger sense of community." This summer URS, a traffic engineering consulting firm, and Alternative Street Design, a firm specializing in traffic calming, will use a computer model to analyze the impact of the road diet and roundabout. Data for the test was collected this spring while Emory University was still in session. The analysis will examine the North Decatur corridor from Clairmont Road to Briarcliff Road.
Emory Village gets a boost from ARC Efforts to revitalize Emory Village took a major step forward this week when the Atlanta Regional Commission announced that Emory Village is eligible for funding from the Livable Centers Initiative program. Click here to read the entire announcement.
Emory Village Revitalization Plan Adopted At its November meeting
the board of directors of the Alliance to A complete copy of
the revitalization plan is available on our website The entire revitalization
plan is also available in a single .pdf file A hard copy black
and white version of the plan can be purchased at
The Emory Village
design guidelines have been approved by the board of A copy of the guidelines
is available on our website in portable |
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