Tucker, GA — Tucker City Council’s first work session of 2022 was all about road improvements. City Engineer Ken Hildebrandt kicked off the meeting with a look at the projects ahead to improve road conditions, calm traffic and increase safety.

Top projects of 2022 include Brockett Road and Idlewood Road. Schools are present on both roads which experience high volume, high speeds and unsafe, spotty pedestrian access.

A connectivity study would help to analyze where speeding can be reduced and safety and traffic can be improved.

“What we said in the Transportation Master Plan, and what we would like to budget this year, is a study to look globally at the north/south connectors so that we don’t try to make improvements on one and divert traffic to another,” said Hildebrandt.

The city will continue to budget about $4 million per year for repaving roads.

SPLOST funding allows about $5 million per year of improvements to Tucker, which is divided between roads and drainage, multi-modal projects including transit, sidewalks or trails, and parks and recreation. Current SPLOST funding is scheduled to end in 2024.

Courtney Smith, planning and zoning director, previewed some city code changes that will be proposed to standardize sidewalks and streetscape requirements.

Lastly, Hildebrandt laid out Tucker Path, a connection of 32 miles of trails throughout the city broken down into seven segments. A trail from Northlake Mall to Main Street will be partially funded by a $1.5 million grant awarded to Tucker by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Mayor Frank Auman said, “In the first couple years of being a city we didn’t do a lot of projects, we did a lot of plans. It’s expensive and time consuming just to hire the consultant for the steering committees.

“There’ll be lots of opportunities for people who are especially interested in trails or parks or transit or transportation to get on a group that’s leading the way in those plans.” .

More information will be presented at the next City Council meeting, said Hildebrandt.

The Tucker Observer is a community news website owned by Decaturish.com. We provide locally sourced news about Tucker, Clarkston and Stone Mountain.