alpharetta hates pedestrians
most readers of my ruminations in this space will know that i work in the sleepy little northern suburb of alpharetta. and over the past two weeks i have come to the conclusion that alpharetta hates pedestrians. seriously. i think they want us all to die.
let me explain.
if you click the picture you will be transported through the magic of the html anchor tag to a 9 mile out-and-back running route from my office. i’m training for a marathon and wednesdays are semi-long runs and because of my schedule, unless i want to get up at 4 am or run around my ‘hood at 9:30 at night, i have to do these runs during the workday.
what does all this have to do with the city of alpharetta wanting me dead?
the sidewalk situation is INSANE. and i am not talking about windy back roads here, i am talking about major streets like north point parkway and old milton parkway. sidewalks start, and then abruptly stop a block later, only to reappear a half mile later on the other side of the street.
sometimes the sidewalk just disappears into a muddy mess of construction. maybe i could run on the shoulders? HAH. nonexistent. on north point parkway. a road that must have a marta bus stop every six feet. i really feel bad for those people, that have to fight that traffic on foot every day.
and the drivers? slow down for a runner? fat chance. some of them even honk at me, as if slowing down for two seconds to pass me has ruined their day.
i’d run on back road but there really are no such thing in alpharetta. i tried to run on a “back road” and sure enough, sidewalks that started and stopped, switched sides etc. and that time i almost really got killed because the road was two lanes. better to stick to the four lane death traps at least where the driver at least has a lane to move over into.
so seriously, i think the city of alpharetta hates pedestrians. if i lived there i would call my council person and have them introduce a resolution that every single ticket the apd writes on that speed trap that is north point parkway go into a special fund until every single inch of the road has a sidewalk. on both sides.
I’m pretty sure that OTPers think that if they build sidewalks, the terrorists win.
It’s not just Alpharetta, it’s all of North Fulton. I live in what’s now Johns Creek.
As I understand it, Fulton county requires developers to put in sidewalks when they develop land. So, if you’re jogging past open undeveloped space, no sidewalks. But, you could also jog past an older development like my subdivsion (20 years old) and there are no sidewalks here either because Fulton didn’t require it in the past. So, yeh, just one big patchwork of sidewalks that take you nowhere.
Walking, no matter time of day, is perilous. When the sidewalk runs out, choose between the street and inconsiderate drivers or the shoulders where inconsiderate people walk their dogs?
It doesn’t solve the sidewalk problem but, have you ever run on the greenway up there? It looks like your office is about half a mile from the nearest enterence. It’s a paved six mile path though the woods right near you and, in my opinion, it makes for a pleasant run.
http://alpharetta.ga.us/index.php?p=136
i love the greenway, but it is too flat for a run of more than 4-5 miles. i need the hills that the street provides for my training.
sigh.
I don’t want to sound overly cynical, but being extremely unfriendly towards anything other than transportation by automobile is one of those defining characteristics usually associated with suburbs.
Since most suburbs are built out rather than up, there’s rarely any kind of appreciable density. With everything so spread out, there’s not really any choice except to drive a car. I’m tempted to go on a rant about how this relates to our ‘addiction to oil’, but I think I’ll save that for some other time :p
Even in Midtown the drivers are obnoxious and the sidewalks good only in the more uppity areas.
Personally I’m considering getting in my car and driving the one mile to work just to add more congestion to the streets. Maybe if everyone gets in their cars we can achieve complete 24-hour gridlock everywhere.
It’s amazing that idiot drivers honk at the very pedestrians who are easing their traffic burden.