Tag Archives: roads

Stripe some roads! —Former Commissioner Richard Lee @ LCC 2013-01-08

The ghost of Commissions Past, in the form of former Commissioner Richard Lee, pointed his finger at the Commission and staff at the 8 January 2013 Lowndes County Commission Regular Session.

Richard Lee congratulated the current Commissioners on being willing to serve. He pointed at Commissioner Joyce Evans as having been to this rodeo before. He said they could trust County Manager Joe Pritchard. And he asked them to find money to stripe roads.
So if y’all can find some coins, and Mr. Prichard has a real knack for doing that, we’d appreciate it up in my end of the county.

That’s curious, since Mr. Pritchard can’t seem to to keep the solid waste collection stations open, or for to keep libraries open, or even for a bus for 4-H without children doing much of the heavy lifting.

But Mr. Lee is confident Mr. Pritchard can find funds to stripe roads in Mr. Lee’s neighborhood!

Here’s the video:

Continue reading →

VLMPO meets 12 July 2011 —Corey Hull

Corey Hull of VLMPO sent this 27 June 2011. The TIA item is about T-SPLOST, and there is opportunity for citizen participation. -jsq
Good Afternoon,

The Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee will be holding its next regular meeting on July 12, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. at the SGRC office (address below). Please find attached the agenda.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at chull@sgrc.us or at 229-333-5277.

Corey Hull, AICP
MPO Coordinator
Valdosta-Lowndes MPO
327 W. Savannah Ave.
Valdosta, GA 31601
Visit our Facebook Site!
229.333.5277
229.300.0922 (c)
229.333.5312 (f)
chull@sgrc.us
www.sgrc.us/transportation

That agenda is appended. -jsq Continue reading →

Ashley Paulk, Corey Hull, and Norman Bennett on T-SPLOST

Jane Osborn pointed us at a detailed list of T-SPLOST projects.

T-SPLOST regional executive committee chairman Ashley Paulk gave his opinion on T-SPLOST at a Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting a few months ago: He’s against it because he doesn’t like a law with a stick in it.

At the same LCDP meeting, Corey Hull of VLMPO explained T-SPLOST, which LAKE videoed in six parts,

  1. T-SPLOST Explained
  2. T-SPLOST Business plan
  3. T-SPLOST Project Lists
  4. T-SPLOST Penalties and LMIG
  5. T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT
  6. T-SPLOST referendum in 2012

Before that, Corey Hull explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA, and got a very interesting question about penalties from Norman Bennett.

VLMPO held an extended public participation period for T-SPLOST in May. Maybe some of you who went can report back on that.

-jsq

Communities, not Cul de sacs

Update: Trees make streets safer and Fixing a perfect storm of bad planning and design.

Eric M. Weiss writes in the Washington Post on 22 March 2009 about In Va., Vision of Suburbia at a Crossroads: Targeting Cul-de-Sacs, Rules Now Require Through Streets in New Subdivisions

The state has decided that all new subdivisions must have through streets linking them with neighboring subdivisions, schools and shopping areas. State officials say the new regulations will improve safety and accessibility and save money: No more single entrances and exits onto clogged secondary roads. Quicker responses by emergency vehicles. Lower road maintenance costs for governments.
Banning cul-de-sacs was one of the New York Times Magazine’s 9th Annual Year in Ideas, because it’s safer and less expensive: Continue reading →

Lowndes County Not Recession-Proof

Sea Island Co. had a reputation for immunity to economic whims while over-borrowing and over-expansion? Hm, they’re not the only ones. As recently as 28 April 2008 the VDT published a story “Analyst: Valdosta ‘recession-proof'”:
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, business consultant and president of JobBait.com Mark Hovind ranked every metropolitan statistical area across the country, highlighting those he deemed to be “recession-proof.” The city of Valdosta was the only Georgia city to make the list.
Continue reading →

Comment on the Transportation Plan

The Metropolitian Planning Organization (MPO) invited people to a Public Open House last week about prioritization of the 2035 Transportation Plan, so we went to the RDC offices on W. Savannah Ave. and had a look. You can see many of the same materials online. The MPO has a comment form you can fill out and mail to them. There is also contact information on their web pages. They are actively soliciting input.

One thing I noticed was that along Cat Creek Road they are proposing several intersection upgrades (at Hambrick Road, New Bethel Road, and Radar Site Road) which look like they would funnel still more traffic through Hambrick Road to Moody AFB. Hambrick Road and Cat Creek Road are not highways. State highways 122 and 129 (Bemiss Road) make a nice fast route from Hahira to Moody. A few improvements at Walker’s Crossing (where 122 and 129 intersect) would seem much more appropriate. The MPO could request for the state to do that.

Widening of Old US41N is on the list again as a county project, this time as far as Union Road.

Several new roads are proposed throughout the city and county as well as widening of many roads with additional travel or turn lanes.

You can look over the list of projects and you’ll probably find ones to comment on.

New Stories of Lowndes County

Here’s the Lowndes County Commission (most of it), posing about the new StormReady County designation:

StormReady County

We love the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT), WCTV, and WALB, but if they published anything about that, we missed it. They have space constraints, and we don’t. Local governments do a lot of good things (and other things) that don’t get reported in the traditional press. This is where LAKE comes in. Continue reading →