Hawkinsville RSVP | 2021

Page 111

TIMELINE Long Term (More than Four Years)

Commerce S treet Angled Parking

With restriping necessary, now is the time to work with GDOT to remove unnecessary lanes and incorporate needed elements like on-street parking. Unfortunately, incorporating a continuous turn lane as requested by GDOT eliminates the opportunity to bring angled parking to Commerce Street. While this is the case today, Hawkinsville should continue working in future years to incorporate angled parking along Commerce Street. If GDOT is unwilling to incorporate necessary improvements to Commerce Street, the city and county should consider petitioning GDOT to decommission downtown portions of Commerce Street as a state highway. By rerouting truck and other through-traffic to Broad Street via Houston Street and Dooly Street, the key portion of Commerce Street downtown could revert to local control, allowing for angled on-street parking and other features downtown. LEAD: Sara Myers, City of Hawkinsville PARTNERS: Georgia Department of Transportation, City of Hawkinsville, Pulaski County POTENTIAL ACTION STEPS: 1. Contact cities like Greensboro, Georgia, that have successfully decommissioned portions of downtown streets to learn from their example. 2. Review Georgia Code O.C.G.A. § 32-7-2 Procedure for Abandonment with the city attorney, county officials, and city commission members to determine whether local control is beneficial to the community. 3. If local control is desired, local leaders should contact the GDOT commissioner by letter requesting a change in the State Highway System. • This letter should include why local leaders believe removing highway classification would be beneficial to community health, safety, welfare, and economic development. 4. If GDOT agrees to grant local control, the principal county or city government’s highest elected official must endorse a State Highway System Revision Authorizing Resolution agreeing to future maintenance and ownership of the roadway. 5. If local control is granted, city officials should work to dedicate funding to streetscape improvements, including on-street angled parking.

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