With the Nov. 7 passing of DeKalb County’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, Decatur is now closer to rebuilding a long troublesome intersection.
Financing the planning, design and construction of improvements to Atlanta Avenue, from Howard Avenue across the railroad tracks to College Avenue, will ultimately be paid with SPLOST proceeds.
“This project is going to happen,” City Manager Peggy Merriss said this week. “When it happens is mostly a timing issue.”
Financing is complicated and would involve using either a general obligation debt or a method Merriss describes as “pay as you go.” By using the first, the design process could start sometime next year and construction would commence in about 18 months. Using the second, Merriss estimates it would take three years before designing even started.
The intersection is an unwieldy one, with four streets emptying into the tracks in the shape of what Merriss describes as a “curly X.” The ultimate goal is to straighten the intersection. The anticipated cost is $5 million and the project would probably take a year once construction started.
This would be the last major transportation improvement project coming out of the 2007 community transportation plan, due for updating next year.