When a Neighborhood Problem Is in Plain Sight, Fix It

Walking in Marietta, at least at one busy intersection near the Marietta Square, is about to get a lot safer thanks to the efforts of Jay and Kathy Williams.  Here’s how and why they did it:

Imagine yourself standing at the corner of the Marietta Parkway (the 120 Loop) and Whitlock Avenue, in front of Maybe you live in one of the nearby neighborhoods. Maybe you were visiting a relative at the just down the street. Maybe church just got out.

Whatever, you’ve decided to walk to the Marietta Square and get some ice cream.

You push the crossing button and wait for the “WALK” signal. The Loop is busy in both directions, with four lanes of vehicles flying by. Another steady stream of cars is zipping around the corner in front of you, turning right onto Whitlock. You inch toward the curb as the light turns yellow.

The turn arrows go green for Whitlock traffic making lefts, and you want to move into the little crosswalk island triangle that appears to be something of a no-man’s land, but cars are still making rights onto Whitlock in front of you. You make eye contact with a driver, who seems to slow down, but as you step from the curb the car lurches forward, and you jump back.

Then the lights turn green for Whitlock and you have the “WALK” signal to cross the Loop. You’ve got to get moving. There’s a small break in the right-turn traffic, so you hold up a hand, bound into the street and hope for the best.

Now, imagine you are blind.

Still want that ice cream?

Yes, said Jay and Kathy Williams, who moved to a neighborhood in the Whitlock Historic District just west of the Square in April 2007. Jay is blind and Kathy has very limited sight. Kathy helps her husband get around, but the Loop/Whitlock intersection stopped them cold.

“The corner definitely needed work,” said Kathy Williams. “When we first moved here, we were trying to cross and a policeman was in his car waiting to turn right on Whitlock. I asked him if he’d ticket me for jaywalking if we crossed in front of him into the triangle. He said, ‘I don’t want to see you cross here at all. It’s too dangerous.’  He said he’d rather come pick me up and take me across.  I said that wasn’t an option.”

So, in June of 2007, the couple got in touch with Holly Walquist, who represented their neighborhood on the at the time. “Kathy had contacted me because she had concerns that the intersection was not appropriate and safe for the blind to cross,” said Walquist.

“I had always had concerns that the intersection also was not very safe for non-blind pedestrians with the way it was set up," said Walquist. "I walk this intersection to the Square, as do many residents in the area, and especially when events occur on the Square. The intersection met the standards for pedestrian crossings, but it also made pedestrians uncomfortable standing in the street without any protection from motorists.”

Kathy Williams agreed. “A lot of people don’t know how to be pedestrians at a corner like this,” she said.

Walquist and Williams talked about the problem with other city officials. The city council approved the concept of improving the pedestrian crossings.  Walquist said they then met with Public Works Director Dan Conn, and a new design was developed. SPLOST money was allocated for the project as part of other road improvements.  As tax revenues dwindled, many projects were delayed or cut, but the Whitlock intersection was one that stayed in the pipeline.

“This is needed from a pedestrian standpoint,” said Marietta City Engineer Jim Wilgus. “It makes it safer to get to the Square. Lots of people use that intersection.”

Wilgus said the intersection will soon be fully compliant for regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Work is being done at all four corners. Audible signals are being added and signal poles are being changed. New curbed pedestrian islands will be on three corners (there’s not enough room in front of the Krystal).

The Loop will also be repaved down to Reynolds Street, where the project meets up with work recently completed by the Georgia Department of Transportation on Powder Springs Road.

Wilgus said the new curbs, islands and crossways should be done not long after the start of school on Thursday (is a few blocks away). The city hopes to have the new signals installed by Labor Day and the entire project finished by October or November.

Wilgus said the audible signals at Whitlock will actually talk to pedestrians who need them, telling what street they are about to cross and when they can begin crossing.

Kathy Williams said she and her husband moved here four years ago because she had to start dialysis, and her son lived in Woodstock. “It was nice to be closer to him,” she said. She recently had other medical problems that have left her in a wheelchair, but said she and her husband still plan to use the new intersection.

Jay Williams is active in his church, sings with the Cobb County Symphony Chorus and plays trombone in an East Cobb senior band.  The guy gets around.  “We love it here," said Williams.

As bad as the Whitlock intersection may have been, they have seen (and heard) worse. They lived for a time in Ogden, Utah.

“Audible traffic signals (used to be) bird noises–‘twirp’ for one direction and ‘tweedle-dee’ for the other,” said Williams. “They are trying to get away from that because, if you had birds in the area that made (similar) sounds, it could get confusing."

She added that the standard was one sound for north/south and the other for east/west. "When we lived in Utah, they had it one way in Ogden and the other way in Salt Lake City," said Williams. "So if you had the ability to get out of town, it could get you killed.”