Bibb County plans to spend millions of dollars in federal grant funding to make one of Macon’s deadliest roads safer for drivers and pedestrians.
Gray Highway, part of U.S. 11 and Ga. 22, has for years been identified as a hotspot for pedestrian deaths and car wrecks. The six-lane arterial road, which spans from Interstate 16 to Jones County, is dotted with apartment complexes, an affordable housing development for seniors, fast food joints, gas stations and retail stores including Walmart.
The $5.6 million in federal money will pay for a mile of sidewalks stretching from Shurling Drive to Woodlawn Drive, replacing dirt footpaths on the highway’s shoulder that have been worn into the earth by the many residents without a car who tread it regularly.
The money also will be used to create three miles of multi-use paths along Old Clinton Road and Boulevard, creating the “East Macon Loop.” More street lighting and two push-activated crosswalks are also part of planned safety improvements, according to the announcement on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s website.
“I think it’s going to bring about not only greater safety for the people living over here and those who have to walk to get where they’re going, but it’s also going to be greater safety for people driving through,” county commissioner Elaine Lucas said. “I think it also says to the people on the east side that people are looking seriously at their concerns. That they’ve heard their concerns and they have responded.”
Lucas, who spearheaded the creation of the Macon-Bibb County Pedestrian Safety Review Board in 2015, worked for years to make pedestrian safety a priority in the county where the pedestrian fatality rate is nearly five times higher than the national average.
Lucas said she plans to qualify next week to run for a seat on the Macon Water Authority Board, a move that will end her tenure on the county commission. She said the progress toward making Gray Highway safer is like “a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The Macon-Bibb County government has for years been unable to make safety improvements to the highway without the approval from and support of the Georgia Department of Transportation. Last month, GDOT finished installing miniature medians along the center turning lanes that prevent drivers from making left turns in some places. Pedestrians are using the elevated concrete for refuge while traversing the six-lane river of traffic.
The county has twice applied unsuccessfully for federal funding to help fix the highway in recent years. In January, the U.S. DOT declined to award the county the $4 million it sought for Gray Highway safety improvements. Instead, the U.S. DOT awarded $400,000 to the county for planning safety improvements anywhere in the county.
Macon-Bibb County Traffic Safety Manager Weston Stroud said the county reapplied for the grant in May.
“We took their feedback,” Stroud said, adding the county held public meetings and launched an online survey to hear from the public about safety needs. “We focused on connectivity outside of just safety …. and provided a little bit more demographic information to explain the gravity of the situation and the importance of connectivity for historically marginalized communities.”
The $5.6 million grant awarded to the county for Gray Highway, announced Friday, comes from a $5 billion U.S. DOT discretionary grant program called Safe Streets and Roads for All. The five-yearslong grant program was created under the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Congress approved in 2021.
To contact Civic Journalism Fellow Laura Corley, call 478-301-5777 or email [email protected].
