City won’t realign tricky intersection

Decatur’s commission recently adopted the “Talley Street Multimodal Transportation Study,” focusing on improvements to five intersections on the city’s east side. This in anticipation of the Avondale MARTA development, scheduled to open later this year, and the Talley Street School slated for an August 2019 opening.

One critical study area is the unconventional Shadowmoor Drive/Talley Street intersection, expected to draw a significant traffic increase when the school opens. Shadowmoor heading northeast turns left onto South Columbia before a quick righthand turn onto Talley.

Many area residents advocated aligning Talley with Shadowmoor and turning it into a conventional “T” intersection, a course the city ultimately rejected.

Assistant City Manager David Junger said that, for one, re-aligning the intersection would mean building a road that cuts through the southwest portion of the school property, eliminating trees and green space.

“Re-aligning,” he said, “would mean re-designing that intersection, plus construction, and that’s a significant expense. Also, re-alignment would make a direct route to Avondale Estates and that could create more traffic for Shadowmoor.”

Instead, the city has chosen a split-phase signalwhere one signal controls all three approaches (South Columbia/Talley/Shadowmoor). The downside, Junger points out, is that this approach will increase the wait time in all directions.

It’s anticipated that the Talley School will open with 720 students.