Duluth to Use Grant Funds for Landscaped Medians

Duluth has been awarded an additional $150,000 federal Transportation Enhancement grant for landscaped Buford Highway medians that would enhance gateways to the city. The Duluth project was part of $4.4 million in funds announced by State Transportation Board Chairman Rudy Bowen for 12 projects in the Seventh Congressional District.

Initially, a landscaped median will probably be installed on Buford Highway from Ga. Hwy. 120 to Davenport Road. This project would involve the removal of the common turn lane on Buford Highway and replacing it with the median. Included in the Buford Highway Corridor Redevelopment Plan that has been approved by the city, the median would improve traffic access management and provide a refuge for pedestrians crossing the highway.

The city had received a previous TE grant for constructing landscape medians in Buford Highway, according to Duluth City Administrator Phil McLemore. “The grant was initially received in 2008, I believe, for $300,000. The amount of money was not sufficient to do much once all the engineering cost came out of it, so the city applied again for another TE grant. The goal is to eventually put landscape medians where practical from North Berkeley Lake Road to Old Peachtree Road,” McLemore said.

“This will take more money than the city currently has, but we will use the new grant of $150,000 to go with the previous grant and do as much as we can,” he said. “We will most like begin at Highway 120 and go to Davenport Road. We will have to see what the cost figures are for this section to see if we can do any more with the funds we have.”

Eventually, the city also would like to install medians along Ga. Hwy. 120. “We do have a separate gateway project grant for the entrance into downtown from Buford Highway at 120, and we will be adding to this,” McLemore said. “This is a grant of approximately $700,000 that we received years ago and will be connecting with the widening of Hwy. 120 through the downtown area. This will improve the pedestrian access across Buford Highway into the downtown.” The timing for getting all the Georgia Department of Transportation approvals done is probably 1½ to 2 years out, he said.

McLemore also said the city had applied for some landscape funds at the Buford Highway/Pleasant Hill Road intersection “that GDOT (Georgia Department of Transportation) just left after the underpass was put in with no landscaping of any type, but we never received anything regarding our request.”

Other projects funded in the latest round of TE grants in Gwinnett County included Peachtree Industrial Boulevard sidewalks, Phase One of the Satellite Boulevard Pedestrian and Transit Connector, Southeastern Railway Museum Phase Three, and the Buford Highway Transit-Oriented Sidewalk and Multi-Use Park. The full TE award list is available online at www.dot.ga.gov/TE.

The TE program is federally funded. Projects funded by the TE program include multi-use facilities such as walking and biking trails and paths; streetscaping and landscaping projects in cities and towns; historic preservation of transportation-related facilities like railroad depots; and scenic preservation of views and scenic byways.

Up to 80 percent of the funds being used for these projects have been provided by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), with the local government funding the remainder of the total project costs. The local governments are responsible for implementing the TE projects and obtaining federal reimbursement from Georgia DOT.

“Enhancement projects are unique opportunities to change a community. These projects are wonderful examples of state and federal government funding the wants of a local community. I am proud to be a part of this process,” said Bowen in the May 26 announcement. Bowen represents the Seventh Congressional District and chairs the State Transportation Board. 

More than $200 million in requests were submitted to the Georgia Department of Transportation for the approximately $55 million in available project funds. State Transportation Board members selected more than 144 projects for this year’s TE program funds in all 12 Congressional districts.