To the editor:
My wife and I have lived and owned in Brookhaven for almost 19 years in the Dresden Drive and Peachtree Road area. The morning and evening rush-hour traffic in this area has gone from bad to horrific in the last several years, especially in the evening heading south on Peachtree and turning east onto Dresden Drive… and no one seems to care.
I have mentioned this to our city of Brookhaven representative several times to see if the city can look into a solution or two.
The initial reply was that I was the first to say anything about this issue (which I find hard to believe), and then subsequently suggest that I attend city planning meetings to learn more about how the city traffic department works.
I have an idea on how the city deals with traffic issues, as I was the first to submit a petition back on May 1, 2013, to the city to do a traffic study on my short, but very busy, cut-through street. The traffic study finally took place in January of this year (I was told that the city didn’t have the funds in 2013), and now, 11 months later, we may get the results of the study and perhaps recommendations some time soon.
A year for this lack of results reminds me of how DeKalb County would have probably treated our request, but not our new and improved city of Brookhaven. I think most Brookhaven residents would like to see the city and its leadership take an interest in traffic and the related quality of life issues, as Sandy Springs and Dunwoody do with their police directing traffic in high-traffic areas every week day.
Or am I just the only one who sits in this traffic not talking on the phone, checking email, Facebook or Twitter and paying attention?
Joe Hammell
When people have previously commented about this issue, the response they have gotten is that the roads and traffic lights are still under the primary control of Dekalb County, especially on roads that are considered to be more “major” roads. So it might not be something the city has to power to address….
But I agree, as a resident, Dresden is AWFUL. The county approved those two new apartment complexes prior to the city formation, without much thought as to traffic. In Brookhaven’s defense, there have been proposals of new developments in the area which have been stalled due to a lack of traffic planning. So it would seem as if the city might be trying to plan better than the county did. But no, that doesn’t help our current situation.
I tweeted at the city of Brookhaven to do something about the traffic – maybe time the lights – and got a response that they were looking into the traffic issue.
Doubt anything ever gets done about it.
You know those new apartments on Dresden are right next to a MARTA station. This is where high density housing is supposed to go. But so many people in the city still drive even when they live right next to a train station. MARTA is a great resource for Atlanta. Use it.