$500K available for alt trans projects in Athens

Athens-Clarke County has $500,000 to spend on bike, pedestrian, and transit projects, and we want to hear from you on which projects you'd like to see happen.

Read the post below and then please fill out the poll on our blog home page.

Details & project descriptions via the ABH:

A standing committee of five commissioners is deciding how to spend $500,000 the commission earmarked for alternative transportation - walking, biking and buses - in 2006.

Officials said they want to spend $75,000 to update a plan for future bike lanes written in 2001, expanding it beyond the three-mile radius from downtown that was mapped out eight years ago. They also want to hold back $25,000 for incidental expenses.

Projects that parks, transportation and Athens Transit officials said could be funded with the remaining money include:

► $400,000 to buy land for a future expansion of a planned, federally funded park-and-ride lot at Oconee Street and the Athens Perimeter.

► $400,000 to widen College Station Road between Research Drive and Barnett Shoals Road to add lanes for bike riders.

► $400,000 to build 1.3 miles of sidewalks along Oglethorpe Avenue, Whit Davis Road, Cherokee Road, Research Road and Cedar Shoals Drive.

► $400,000 to build a trail connecting the Multimodal Transportation Center to a planned rail-trail project in East Athens.

► $400,000 to supplement sales tax revenue earmarked for the North Oconee River Greenway.

► $400,000 to build paths in a proposed park along Pulaski Creek.

► $400,000 to build a bike lane along West Broad Street/Atlanta Highway from Alps Road to greenspace near the Middle Oconee River.

► $400,000 to build an off-road path connecting Milledge Avenue and Milledge Avenue Extension.

► $200,000 to buy land for bus shelters at stops where the local government does not own right-of-way.

► $50,000 to promote Athens Transit bus service.

► $20,000 to buy and install 40 bike racks around Athens.

Kids plea for bus stop on Timothy Rd

The following letter to the editor was published in the ABH today:

Dear editor of the Athens Banner-Herald: Hi. We are third-graders at Timothy Road Elementary School. We are writing because we need a city bus stop in front of our school. There are a lot of events at Timothy that require parents to come. Without a city bus stop, some parents can't come. Sometimes their cars break down or they might not have a car. They might not have any money for gas.

If parents didn't come, then kids would be heartbroken. Kids also feel embarrassed when parents can't come because they don't have gas money or a car. If kids are sad and embarrassed, then they can't learn. Please help us learn by writing to the commissioners of Athens to convince them to put a city bus stop in front of Timothy. Please contact our school counselor, Ms. Saundra Arnold-Smith, if you have any questions.

Thank you for helping us.

Christopher Dellaria

Sylvia Primm

Brian Lee

• The writers are students in Kari Speakman's third-grade class.

It doesn't get more direct than that. Funding transit and providing a full range of transportation choices is fundamentally a social justice issue.