Albany and Dougherty Co. looking to curb traffic accidents and fatalities with ‘Safe Streets For All’ federal grant

ALBANY, Ga. – In an effort to try and reduce traffic accidents, the City of Albany and Dougherty County are working towards a federal grant.

CBS 44’s Brian Roche has more.

The City of Albany and Dougherty County are giving the public a chance to have their voices heard in an attempt to reduce car accidents on some of the county’s busiest roads like this intersection on Dawson and Westover Boulevard.

Albany residents have seen more than their fair share of accidents.

“I travel; and each one of these areas features a high traffic areas: Slappey, Oak Ridge, Radium Springs Road. So, I’m familiar with all the major intersections that they spoke of and the ones that have the high volumes of incidence of injuries and fatalities,” said Tyler Harris, Albany resident.

“Been more accidents and more motorcycle crashes that I heard about. And, we need more safety in this city,” said Stephan Harrison, Albany resident.

And… that’s why the city and county want to hear from them for the ‘Safe Streets For All’ grant.

The grant allows for the city and county to receive federal assistance to help with short and long term traffic solutions.

“I think we have to start somewhere and I think it’s a good start. Some funds have been allocated specifically for this purpose and some grants have been applied for specifically for this area. And, so, therefore, it is essential that we get started somewhere,” said Harris.

This map represents the highest areas of traffic accidents that resulted in injuries or worse.

From busy roads like Westover Boulevard and Nottingham Way…

To quieter county roads like Holly Drive.

Doug Stoner is the Director of Business Development for the Foresite Group whose conducting the survey for the program.

And… he says there are a few factors for why these areas see a high volume of traffic.

“Well, what you’re going to see a lot of these areas, it’s it’s just simply where you’ve had older infrastructure at times, built over many different years, decades in the sense of some areas were more pedestrian friendly design, some were not. Issues like lighting, maybe not enough lighting as it should have so that people can see other vehicles or even cyclists and pedestrians,” said Doug Stoner, Director of Business Development, Foresite Group.

While the group alongside Albany and Dougherty County get feedback, Doug shared with us the next steps in the process…

“By going through and doing this study and coming up and identifying these intersections and corridors. The county and the city can both now go after what’s called implementation money on the federal and state level. At that point, they can come back and implement the recommendations of how to improve safety in these areas and locations,” said Stoner.

And… with the hope that over the years they can drastically reduce traffic accidents in the area.

The Foresite Group also touched on a traffic plan known as “Vision Zero” which aims to eliminate accidents and deaths on the road in Dougherty County by 2050.

Brian Roche reporting.

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