The Georgia Department of Transportation has installed five medians on Gray Highway from Second Street to Shurling Drive.
The so-called medianettes serve as pedestrian refuge islands, breaking up the turning lane on Gray Highway. Bidirectional turning lanes can be dangerous for drivers coming from either direction, according to Weston Stroud, Macon-Bibb County Traffic Safety manager
“It’s exciting to see progress in that area. The state is working hard to address corridors” where there are often injuries, he said. “Traffic engineering will continue to work with Georgia Department of Transportation to address safety concerns in East Macon, and throughout the county, to make our Vision Zero goal a reality.”
Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
Gray Highway in Macon is one of the deadliest roads for pedestrians in Georgia, and Macon-Bibb County ranks as one of the state’s worst for fatal pedestrian crashes.
About 7% of crashes involving a pedestrian in Macon in recent years resulted in the pedestrian dying, compared to 5% statewide, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, which covers 2018 to 2022. Using data from 2011 to 2015, the state found that four pedestrians died on Gray Highway and five were seriously injured.
In a previous interview with The Telegraph, Stroud said the plan affirms that traffic deaths are preventable, unacceptable, and human life takes priority over mobility and other objectives of the road system.
He said the street system should be safe for all users, for all modes of transportation, in all communities, and for people of all ages and abilities.
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The project was funded by the department, according to county officials.
Source Agencies
