Photo by Erin Nelson.
Vehicles move through the traffic light in front of Brookwood Village Mall on Shades Creek Parkway, where a new crosswalk and pedestrianlight is located.
When Jennifer Andress was elected to represent Ward 5 on City Council four years ago, one of her goals was to add a crosswalk and pedestrian traffic signal to Shades Creek Parkway at Brookwood Village in front of Fresh Market.
On May 14, as she was leaving Target, she saw her dream come true.
“I am dying!” she wrote in an email to her constituents. “This took literally three years and six weeks of working through ALDOT, lengthy construction, bad weather, COVID-19, final ALDOT approval... but there it is! It’s beautiful.”
The main issue with the crosswalk is that it’s on Lakeshore Drive, a state highway, and it’s adjacent to U.S. 31. A representative from ALDOT told Andress that cars would either be accelerating to get onto U.S. 31 or driving fast off of U.S. 31.
“But we already have a light there,” Andress said. “And we have a hotel there, a gym there, our neighborhood there, a coffee shop across the street.”
Andress remembered an experience she had while still a sales representative at Johnson & Johnson. She would book a room for out-of-town guests at the Courtyard Marriott there, but the clients didn’t have a car, so they didn’t have access to food once their day with Andress was over. Andress has seen countless hotel guests sprinting across Lakeshore with their suitcases in hand, she said.
There is also a crosswalk on Shades Creek Parkway at Windsor Drive, but there isn’t a pedestrian signal yet. Andress said this is coming soon.
With these new additions, a pedestrian could start at the Shades Valley YMCA, cross Shades Creek Parkway in front of the Marriott, walk down Brookwood Village, cross Shades Creek Parkway again at Windsor Drive, cross Windsor Drive and then take that sidewalk to Jemison Trail.
“I’ve heard countless people from our neighborhood [say they're] so happy it’s there,” she said. “I’m so happy it is, too.”