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Forest Hill Road |
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Macon, Ga Please
help support our Forest Hill Road - Improvements: |
CAUTION
Macon
Macon-Bibb.com
Macon, Georgia
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Forest Hill Road |
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Macon, Ga Please
help support our Forest Hill Road - Improvements: |
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Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport - - Only Citizens Can Prevent Bad
Government - - through Constant Investigation and Involvement
MATS Policy Committee
ignores (after listening to) 3 Citizens commenting about FHR
2-3-10 (here)
Technical Committee of
the MATS- Macon Area Transportation Study - hears of Rick Chellman's
design options 1-20-10 (here)
Telegraph Editors say
"Stop and re-Think (again)" (here)
Forest Hill Road
widening re starts - Dec 2009 (here)
Telegraph does not interview Citizens, misstates their position as
merely NIMBY.
Bibb Commissioners offer (letter) to pay for
roads-expert Chellman.
GaDOT is Broke; FHR postponed for 10 years (2020)
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Problems with the Forest Hill Rd project started with the original SPLOST (Special Purpose, Local Option, Sales Tax, in1994). The campaign for the SPLOST was directed and financed by Moreland Altobelli, Inc. (MAI), the firm who was promised the contract to manage the projects funded by the SPLOST. Public officials, including the county engineer, were actively involved in the campaign, resulting in a complaint from a local attorney observing that government employees were banned from such participation. No public hearings detailing the actual projects and scope thereof included in the SPLOST were conducted (a GDOT official who recently learning of the lack of public hearings expressed surprise, as this is not the norm). The SPLOST was sold to the public as “Pennies for Potholes,” a now laughable statement that disguised the true intent and scope of the program. . . see more (here): |
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| A Citizen representative of 6 Neighborhood Associations requests that Bibb Commissioner - Elmo Richardson - should recuse himself from any votes concerning Forest Hill Rd or Stantec. A few minutes later, Elmo voted on the Forest Hill Road mediation issue which included the stipulation that ROW acquisitions continue..(ROW). | ||
 "click" above to see Elmo's Ethics Complaints. |
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A few minutes later, Elmo voted on the Forest Hill Road mediation issue which included the stipulation that ROW acquisitions continue..(ROW).
More NEWS
Mediation
Fails 8-20-08 (here)
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| Bibb Commissioner, Joe Allen is now (8-16-07) on-board to help support the citizens wishes for Forest Hill Road design!!! |
Please call the Bibb Commissioners -
ask them to change the
proposed design of FHR.
This is a MUST!
Elmo
"Stantec"
Richardson: cell
747-9476 or office 474-6100 or home 477-3115
Bibb Commissioners are 100% responsible for the continuing grief.
They
are delaying a resonable design for Forest Hill Rd.
Do
not
let
these
Commissioners
tell
you:
"It
is out
of
our hands ... It is up to GaDOT leaders
now to do any redesign ..." This is not true. The
fact is that these two Commissioners control the votes to initiate any
changes in this project.
[Note that Mr. Wallwork
has written a letter [here]
to the Commissioners explainig how GaDOT can Save Money with a
redesign]
Read the some
BLOGs about Forest Hill Road:
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click on image below |
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| Tie
A Yellow Ribbon, Forest Hills Road style article and song at here http://www.wmccnews.com/ |
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Our state
legislators were invited to meet with
Forest Hill
Neighbors on
Wednesday, Dec. 13, 4-5 p.m., in Council Chambers. A letter of
invitation went out to the Delegation, and courtesy copies to the
Mayor & Council members, Commission Chair &
Commissioners. The attendence was disappointing. Full
report later. Thanks.
The Forest Hill Rd
- win-win - Houston Avenue
connection here
was used by
GDOT and the Bibb Commissioners Act
to
defeat the desires of the Neighborhood. GDOT showed it has enough money
to do any project "it" desires. Taxpayers need to speak up.
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Forest Hill Road --
Petitions and Ribbons! |
13WMAZ.com -->> "The Department of Transportation says they're moving forward with the Forest Hill Road project , but some people living on the road say they're not going to let it happen without a fight. Saturday people lined Forest Hill Road holding up signs that asked drivers to honk if they love trees. Last month, D.O.T. marked thousands of trees up and down the road with blue spray paint. Project manager, Van Etheridge, said some of those trees may have to come down to accommodate the road widening project. People opposed to the project tied yellow ribbons around the trees with blue markings on Saturday. They say they want people to realize how many trees they could lose. CAROL LYSTLAND, FOREST HILL RESIDENT: "The main thing I personally do not want is to see our neighborhood torn down. They are wanting to, I feel like, destroy our neighborhood, to destroy our trees. CHRISI OGLES, FOREST HILL RESIDENT: "If they would take the money that they're planning on using to widen the road and just repair it, everybody would be so much better off." People opposed to the project also expressed concerns about traffic increasing. They say the current design for the road is too big, and they want it scaled down." Pics Pics
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| Meeting at the
Museum of Arts and Sciences on Forsyth Road Sunday, August 27, 2006 2-3pm  |
| Update on design status. Who
can change the design? New Roundabout videos.
Maps. State Historic Review reports. Review the West Paces
Ferry Rd (in Atlanta) model. Meet several attorneys who have
successfully dealt with Ga.DOT issues like rights-of-way condemnations,
construction nuisances, maintenance negligence and design
liabilities - Chris Clark and Jarome E. Gautreaux of http://obclawfirm.com Where to go from here. |
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- - Forest Hill Road - - is already "...20% Safer than Ga Staewide Average..." - Harvey Keepler, Ga DOT Environmental/Location Engineer (here) |
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Citizen Involvement |
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50 Neighbors meet on September 20th, 2005 at St Francis Church on Forest Hill Road to discuss a new plan for improving Forest Hill. They reach a consensus: - 95% of Forest Hill Road can remain 2-lanes by using Roundabouts at Ridge, at Wimbish, at Lokchoppee at Old Lundy (<-See Visual Preference Design Concepts) and at Forest Lake Drive - Newport Road. 1. Roundabouts are markedly safer. 2. They move traffic faster by not holding it up at stop lights, especially when there is no intersecting traffic to justify the delay. 3. They tend to slow traffic between intersections by curving into the roundabout. 4. They are less expensive to maintain than traffic signals. 5. They reduce auto emissions -- Macon is already in trouble with EPA over air quality. 6. In this case the overall cost of the project would be dramatically reduced. 7. Grassy Swales will remain to better handle runoff - water is quicker to leave the roadway, then it is slowed and filtered before entering local streams - from which Bibb County derives its drinking water. Forest Hill
neighborhood personality should be preserved, Macon Telegraph
articles
on
water
runoff,
traffic
projections,
voting
members
of the road policy committee,
Flooding
causes Detention
Pond
Failure and Leads to Lawsuit of Bibb County by Homeowner.
Macon Council
Disrespected by GDOT, Macon City
Coucil Resolution to modify road design, and another
Resolution to have ultimate authority over road designs in the
City. Review
- 2001 GDOT Deceptions Project is Enlarged
over original size published in "Program Management Services Agreement
signed between Tom
Moreland's
Moreland-Altobelli and Bibb County on 2-1-95. 1999
detailed concerns , Air Quality Issues (click) "Stakeholders - Landscaping" Meeting with GDOT on
April 14, 2005 with Original
Minutes, or .rtf version with
some loss of formating ,
Flaws
in the Environmental Assessments,
Over 200 Citizen and Neighborhood Comments from 2001,
Meeting with GDOT on May 31 2002,
Notes
from 2004,
Visual
Preference Design Concepts at Old Lundy and Lokchoppee and at Ridge Avenue , Flawed - Traffic_Count_Projections
, What does the real Accident Data show (here) Roundabouts in North Carolina , Macon Telegraph graphics
of
projected new footprint between Vineville
and
Wimbish, and
between Wimbish
and
Northside
Dr.
4-21-06 the Bibb Commission votes
to let GDOT begin to aquire ROW. More ROW
data and parcels. Video (click)
of
fatal
accident
that
could
have
been
prevented by a
Roundabout. New
Proposed Resolution before City Council: A RESOLUTION
ESTABLISHING A REVIEW REQUIREMENT FOR MACON-BIBB Petitions
- Signatures
collected in October 2006 of citizens who want a new design.
264 citizen
signatures here [pdf].
And
330
more
citizen
signatures
plus
23
duplicates
here [pdf].
And
here
are
pages 28-45 {pdf - 3MB]
Video: |
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Mr Michael
Wallwork, PE.- International Road/Traffic Design Expert:
Mr Michael
Wallwork, PE. undertook some analyses at Forest Hill Rd and Forsyth
Rd. He discovered a very good level-of-service with a two lane roundabout that only has one lane
in each direction for the
His reason
for the three lane is that the traffic volumes are at the stage where
getting in and out of the street becomes difficult and more unsafe.
Increasing volumes will exacerbate the situation. By adding a third
lane with medians, medias are a must, then left turn becomes safer and
easier, trees are added to beautify the street and the median make road
crossings by pedestrians much safer, they also fit better with
roundabouts. The FHWA
project engineer in Atlanta should undrstand how roundabouts would save
lives, and reduce right-of-way, construction costs and maintenance
costs and how these cost reductions will pay for the minor redesign
many times over. FHWA can consider the use of roundabouts with the
addition of landscaped medians within the center turn lane. Here is text
RTF
or DOC
of letter to Bibb Commission Chairman, Charles Bishop.
It describes the advantages of changing the Forest Hill Road
design. It details how to save Money and Time, Who to contact,
What to say to accomplish the change.
Michael
Wallwork Alternate Street Design, P.A. (904) 269-1851
www.roundabouts.net |
Roundabouts Meeting at City Hall on January, 31, 2006. report:
Mr Michale Wallwork spoke about the modern uses of roundabouts to economically smooth the efficient and safe movement of traffic. See his website at www.roundabouts.net
The next morning, Mr Wallwork spoke to the Policy Committee of the Macon Area Transportation group. There was general interest and some specific locations discussed to utilize roundabouts. Mr Wallwork said that Forest Hill Road could be redesigned to benefit from roundabouts. This would save time, money and it would use a smaller footprint, thus be friendlier to the neighborhood. He later wrote a letter to Bibb Chairman, Charles Bishop - that letter can be viewed here - page 1 and 2.
Stakeholder Meeting report - December 12, 2005
GDOT - Forest Hill
Road
stakeholder meeting was
on Monday, December 12, at 6pm at St. Francis Church located at 432
Forest
Hill Road to discuss landscaping and lighting concepts.
It was a
waste
of time because. the neighborhood still has not accepted the basic road
design...
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Forest Hill
Road |
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| Old Website, Prior to
12-20-2009 |
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- CAUTION Macon - |
| Eisenhower Parkway Extension |
