MTO: CAUTION Macon takes case to state, federal officials

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CAUTION Macon takes case to state, federal officials

By Jennifer Plunkett
The Macon Telegraph

About 35 CAUTION Macon members met Thursday with state and federal transportation officials hoping to find a group that will be more responsive to their concerns about the Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program.

"We tried to be heard locally for over a year, and we're getting tired," said CAUTION Macon member Suzan Rivers. "We want (the state and federal officials) to have more involvement to oversee the process and (see) that we're getting the roads we want."

Residents made presentations to officials of the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration on more than seven projects, including Intown Macon intersections, Tucker Road, Wesleyan Drive and Ingleside and Forest Hill avenues.

Detailed alternatives were given to the road program's plans for those projects, with residents often deferring to Orlando, Fla.-road designer Walter Kulash's recommendations. They want scaled-back versions of the project plans drawn by Moreland Altobelli Associates Inc., the company managing the $300 million roads program.

"Mr. Kulash's participation satisfies current and future transportation needs and enables us to maintain the integrity of our neighborhoods," said member Dan Fischer, who submitted an alternative comprehensive transportation plan. "(The roads program) hired Mr. Kulash for PR value. We're concerned (program officials) will ignore his recommendations."

The state and federal officials listened, took notes but made no comments at the meeting, held at the midtown Kroger supermarket on Pio Nono Avenue.

The lone representative from the city-county roads program was Vernon Ryle, executive director of the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission, who sits on the program's technical advisory committee. No Moreland Altobelli staff or elected officials from the executive committee were in attendance.

CAUTION Macon members, who united over common concerns about the city-county road program, said they hope state and federal officials will have an impact in changing the course of the projects.

They said they expect to maintain a regular dialogue with the officials until the program is complete.

They said they feel the road program's executive committee and technical committee have been unresponsive to public input.