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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Traffic moves along Green Springs Highway in Homewood as road work is underway. This area is one example within the city where sidewalks, medians, turn lanes and bike lanes are being added.
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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Traffic flows along 18th Street in downtown Homewood as street improvements continue.
The city of Homewood is well known for its walkability, from the sidewalks that run through downtown to the popular business strip in Edgewood.
Now, city leaders have added a “Complete Streets” ordinance, which will lead to more discussion and more work to make Homewood streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians as well as drivers.
Council members Jennifer Andress, Nick Sims and Andy Gwaltney sponsored the ordinance.
“Homewood has already done a great job,” Sims said. “Now, it’s just policy going forward.”
Every time a project dealing with a city street comes before the council, several committees will review whether there is an opportunity to improve the road for all types of users. If there is not a way to do so, the reason must be stated, Sims said.
Those changes could include the addition of sidewalks, bike lanes, striping and more, Sims said.
The work brings in not just members of the City Council, but organizations focused on improving walkability across the region. Those organizations, including the Freshwater Land Trust, Lakeshore Foundation, Homewood Chamber of Commerce, Homewood City Schools and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority, are part of the Complete Streets Advisory Committee, which will review projects and publish progress reports on how well the city is doing in regard to making streets “complete.”
“Freshwater Land Trust is thrilled to hear that the Homewood City Council has unanimously supported the proposed Complete Streets ordinance,” Red Rock Trail System Director Carolyn Buck said. “A robust alternative transportation network is a critical element of the Red Rock Trail System, which aims to connect every resident in Jefferson County with a green space within a mile of their home. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the city of Homewood as we work together to make Jefferson County more walkable, bikeable and connected.”
The ordinance also means more commitment to making the city accessible to people who use wheelchairs or have other mobility issues, which was received well by the Lakeshore Foundation.
“Safe, accessible transportation is a basic right for everyone using our public sidewalks, streets and transportation,” said John Kemp, president and CEO of the Lakeshore Foundation. “On behalf of Lakeshore Foundation, I applaud the city of Homewood for making it a priority to improve and ensure accessibility with the adoption of the Complete Streets policy. This is a great step forward in making it possible for individuals with a disability to be fully included in the fabric of our city. I hope this encourages us all to look critically at accessibility issues and continue making improvements, so everyone has the freedom to move unhindered throughout our parks, shopping areas, schools and community.”
The newly created Technical Oversight Committee will involve the city’s public works, engineering and traffic departments to examine possible improvements and what makes the most sense on certain streets. That committee will meet quarterly, Andress said.
The Complete Streets plan first gained traction with the Heart of Homewood plan that was developed by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, which emphasized connectivity, walkability and bikeability, Andress said. The ordinance also emphasizes connecting city projects focused on connectivity to regional projects like the Red Rock Trail System or the transit system’s Transit Development Plan, which seeks to tie trail systems to transit lines.
Some streets, like Central Avenue, already include partial sidewalks and bike lanes, but not every street will look like Central, Andress said.
“It’s not meant to be onerous,” Andress said.
If the cost of implementing the proposed changes is more than 20% of total project construction costs, the work does not have to be done, Andress said.
The goal is to make improving the streets for pedestrians and cyclists part of the conversation, Andress said. Some possible projects include adding bike lanes to Roseland Drive, something Andress has sought.
The metrics to determine how the city is progressing will be developed by the Technical Oversight Committee, Sims said. Members of that committee and meeting dates had not been announced as of late April.
Each road that comes under the ordinance won’t be mirror images of each other, Sims said.
“Complete streets don’t always look the same,” Sims said. “It’s definitely not a one size fits all.”
For example, while some streets have full bike lanes, other options are “sharrows,” arrows that alert drivers to the presence of cyclists on the road, Sims said. Other options also include buffered bike lanes, which are coming to Green Springs Highway. Buffered bike lanes mean there will be a narrow strip between automobile lanes and bike lanes, which could be a strip of vegetation, paint or concrete. On Green Springs, it will be plastic pylons that will keep drivers from hitting cyclists.
The new initiative is also an “economic tool,” Sims said. The work to be done will hopefully connect all of the city’s economic nodes, from downtown to Edgewood to West Homewood, Sims said. The redevelopment and sprucing up of streets “usually goes hand in hand with redevelopment,” Sims said.
It also provides an opportunity for residents to improve their health and the health of the environment, he said. Fewer cars means less impact on air quality.
While the city has sought to make these efforts in the past, Andress said introducing a binding ordinance shows the council’s commitment to the issue and is “putting our money where our mouth is.”