Macon-Bibb road program officials bobbed and weaved through a contentious meeting Thursday 10-8-98, trading barbs over free speech and the accuracy of last month's minutes while also taking care of routine business.

    After the meeting, members of the neighborhoods coalition CAUTION Macon gave the executive committee of the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program seven recommendations for improving relations between community activists and road builders.

REQUESTS

Highlights of CAUTION Macon requests: 1. Agendas for the executive and technical committees be furnished to CAUTION Macon and the media, preferably a week in advance. 2. Hold the road improvement committee meetings at a more convenient time for citizens. 3. Enhance completed projects with additional grading, grass and trees and plan for adequate right-of-way treatment and landscaping in the future. 4. Clarify the role of Walter Kulash, the neighborhood-friendly road designer, to ensure that he can review all projects and suggest changes. Let the public know what he thinks. 5. Make available to the public complete project descriptions that include design, purpose, need, neighborhood impact of projects and feasible alternatives. 6. Set up and provide ample notice of public hearings on all major improvements. Allow open, unrestricted debate. 7. Formulate special road, sidewalk and right-of-way standards to address requirements of historic areas, aesthetically significant vistas and neighborhoods. 8. Conduct a series of bona fide public hearings on the entire street system.

    The suggestions ranged from more convenient meeting times for working people to a firmer commitment to involve neighborhood friendly road designer Walter Kulash in all projects in the $300 million program.

    The executive committee meeting opened with ex-officio committee member Frank Pinkston challenging the minutes of last month's meeting, saying the report did not accurately reflect the committee's agreement on traffic engineer Walter Kulash's role in the road program.

    The session ended with Macon City Councilwoman Thelma Dillard challenging committee chairman Larry Justice over the presence of an armed deputy sheriff at the committee meetings.

    "There's no need for this," said Dillard, a member of CAUTION Macon, which opposes some road-widening projects. "These are peaceful people who've not caused any problems. You're just trying to stymie free speech and intimidate them."

    "They've been at every meeting," Justice said, responding to Dillard's claim that deputies started attending meetings after roads opponents started attending. "That's a bunch of bull."

    Justice, who also chairs the Bibb County Commission, acknowledged after the meeting that he was unsure when deputies had started attending the meetings.

The committee took action on
several other items. They included:
• Reaffirming its earlier approval to construct three lanes on Forest Hill Road from Northside Drive to Wimbish Road. The $3.5 million project would also provide curbs and sidewalks on the eastern side of the road.
• Approving $335,037 for design work on the proposed intersection of Interstate 16 and Weaver Road.
• Sending back to the road program's technical advisory committee for review a proposal to put sidewalks on both sides of Pierce Avenue from Old Holton Road to Sheffield Drive. That proposal would also include a sidewalk on the west side of Pierce from Sheffield to Riverside Drive.

    The technical advisory committee reviews project engineers' proposals. The committee either approves or disapproves the offerings, before sending them to the executive committee for its consideration.

    Also sent back to the technical advisory committee for review was whether to widen Hartley Bridge Road to three lanes from Interstate 75 to Houston Road.

    On Pinkston's suggestion, the committee agreed to ask the technical advisory committee to re-examine making Forsyth Street one way into the city from Interstate 75 to Poplar Street and making Washington Street and Hardeman Avenue one way out of the city from Poplar to I-75.

    Pinkston said last month's minutes should have read that traffic engineer Walter Kulash of Orlando, Fla., would be used only to review the proposed Wesleyan Drive and Ingleside Avenue projects. Engineers with Moreland Altobelli Associates, the road program's managers, would have to get prior approval from the executive committee before he could be used on other projects.

    Although Macon Mayor Jim Marshall disagreed with Pinkston's interpretation of the minutes, the mayor and other committee members agreed that the executive committee should approve Kulash's involvement in other projects.

    A few weeks ago, the committee agreed to pay Kulash $5,000 to review and make recommendations on the Wesleyan Drive and Ingleside Avenue projects. Tom Moreland, chief engineer for Moreland Altobelli, added another $1,000 to the fee.

    On Thursday, Moreland got the committee to approve Kulash's involvement in the Tucker Road project, proposed improvements at the intersection of Wesleyan and Rivoli drives, and the proposed widening of College Street at its intersections with Washington and Georgia avenues. This work will be at no additional cost, Moreland said.