Albany to host open house to improve transportation

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - The city of Albany is asking for residents’ help to improve transportation in the good-life city, Dougherty county and Lee county.

June 23rd they’re hosting an open house to get public opinion.

Some of the topics they’re going over are bicycling, walking, sidewalks and stop lights.

The open house will specifically focus on the City of Albany’s bicycle-pedestrian plan. A plan that hasn’t been updated since 2011.

Tanner Anderson, planner for the city of Albany, said the goal is to improve safety and accessibility.

“There’s a lot of places in the city of Albany that don’t have sidewalks and people are forced to walk on these busy highways and we just wanna make sure people can get from point A to Point B without getting hurt,” said Anderson.

Several people from Albany said they’ve seen bikers and walkers use busy roads because there’s not a sidewalk.

Raymond and Pamela Webster have lived in Albany for over a decade. They said sidewalks can be good, but the city needs to survey the areas and make sure the need is there.

“You can’t just put a sidewalk anywhere. It has to be somewhere where it’s usable. People will enjoy coming out there and actually walking,” said Raymond Webster.

“They need to look at if there is a need for it. Are people outside exercising? Is there a nice area where they can walk at?” Pamela Webster added.

Factors like need, traffic and potential use are all points the city is looking into, but the starting point comes from public input.

“You can place points of interest that need to be addressed. We’re looking for our bicyclist pedestrians who love to walk around the community and trail hikers,” said Anderson.

The input given at these meetings will impact Dougherty and Lee county. They hope to have a draft of the plan ready by July or August.

For anyone who wants to give input, the open house is on June 23rd from 5-6:30 p.m. at 240 Pine Avenue.

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