Just imagine Broad Street transformed from its current state into a muiti-modal corridor with specific areas dedicated for cars, trucks and buses, parking, separated bike lanes and pedestrian paths, all handicapped accessible.
Imagine the James Brown Linear Park with Brown’s statue raised above street level on a concrete pedestal with a fountain and pedestrian terrace below. Imagine fountains level with the terrace and water coming from beneath the surface.
“The idea is to stand in the circle in the middle of the fountain area, remain dry and get the full effect of the water feature and the James Brown statue that’s up on the pedestal.”
That’s how Augusta’s Traffic Engineer John Ussery described one part of Broad Street of the future to city commissioners Tuesday during a presentation of the Broad Street Concept, complete with project drawings.
Engineering designs for the transformation of the Broad Street corridor from Milledge Road to East Boundary will be complete, and the TIA-funded projects let by the end of the year, Ussery said.
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The Broad Street concept is one unified project with three distinct parts.
_ The first part is between Washington Road, Calhoun Expressway and 15th Street, which is mostly residential with some neighborhood businesses, churches and the Kroc Center complex.
_ The second part is between 15th Street and Fourth Street, which is predominantly businesses in a business area which people consider the downtown portion. constitutes the Old Towne portion.
_ The third part is between Fourth Street and East Boundary, which is residential and also constitutes Old Towne.
“Each different part of Broad Street has unique uses and traffic patterns, and the concept and design will vary depending on those factors, but tied together for one unified, cohesive project,” Ussery said.
“Broad Street will transform from its current state into a multi-modal corridor and will dedicate to specific areas for passenger vehicles and parking, separated bike lanes and pedestrian paths with all handicap facilities included.
“The center of Broad Street will be improved to make it more inviting and accessible. The area near the James Brown statue will be enhanced to better honor the legacy of this Augusta icon, Ussery said.”
The portion between 15th Street and 13th Street will have a protected bike lane, parallel parking, four turn lanes, a landscaped median, ADA and pedestrian facilities will be improved and updated.
Broad Street is currently vehicle-centric, but that will change because the redesign includes all modes of transportation, including golf carts, scooters, bicycles, pedestrians and wheelchairs, Ussery said.
Broad Street will coordinate well with other projects in the area, such as improvements to the 13th Street bridge, a Georgia DOT project. The Riverwalk path beneath the bridge that connects to the Augusta Canal trails on the other side of the bridge will connect to the extended network of trails and paths that go all the way through Richmond and Columbia counties, Ussery said.
The 13th Street bridge will also have a dedicated bike path that will connect to the North Augusta Greenway on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.
The Fifth Street bridge, currently under construction, will connect to Broad Street and provide multi-modal improvements and more options for the traveling public in downtown Augusta, Ussery said.
Improvements at the James Brown Linear Park include the statue being raised above the street level on a concrete pedestal with a fountain and pedestrian terrace below.
The park will also have a covered shade area with seating.
“The ultimate goal for all of the projects is to improve the function and esthetic appearance of the downtown area,” Ussery said. “All separate projects are designed with connection in mind. Our objective is to improve the overall multi-faceted quality of life in historic downtown Augusta and draw more of our residents and visitors to this area of our city.”
Commissioner Sean Frantom asked for a timeline on the project, and Engineering Director Hameed Malik said the design work is 60 percent complete and should be finished by June or July. The project should be let and awarded by the commission by December, with work beginning after the Masters Golf Tournament in 2023.
Frantom also asked whether deliveries would be possible on Broad Street during construction.
“Yes,” Malik said. “We always maintain access. That’s why we’re doing this project in a different way. We’re bringing the contractor into the design process now, so the designer and the contractor will work together to come up with the staging, constructability and access.”
Frantom also asked whether the commission can make any changes to the plan or whether they were stuck with what they have.
“Right now, given the schedule that we have, we can tweak some minor changes but changing the design would be impossible because of the schedule we have. We’re already behind and we’re pushing our consultants.”
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Frantom said his concern was the landscape and having so many trees when the city already has a tough time maintaining trees.
He added, “I understand the need to have some of them, but this is way too many trees, and that was a common theme in all the presentations, and then it seems like we never, as a body … I don’t think it ever came back to us after the presentation, it was more like, ‘This is what we’re going to have to live with.’”
Frantom also said they’d talked in the past about making Ellis Street one-way.
“I think if we did that, number one, you could open up lighting,” Frantom said. “Number two, you could open up deliveries because we’re going to have this nice road and to have 18-wheelers on this with all the things we’re putting in just doesn’t make sense when we can make deliveries on Ellis Street mandatory.”
Ussery said they had looked at it, and he thought it was a good idea.
Commissioner Brandon Garrett said he gets asked every week what the 5th Street Bridge is connecting to on the North Augusta side of the river.
“Is it just going to stop there?” he asked.
Malik said the North Augusta’s trail master plan does show connectivity, but he didn’t know when that would happen.
“I’m just trying to understand the point behind it,” Garrett said. “It just seems it’s a bridge to nowhere.”
“I’m not real clear about what’s going to happen on the South Carolina side, but the bridge on our side of the river is a very important piece of our overall plan to make downtown more accessible to everyone, not just people in passenger cars or vehicles,” Ussery said. “So, the 5th Street bridge will connect to 5th Street which will have a bike lane on it which will connect to Telfair Street which has a bike lane on it which will connect with Broad Street which has a bike lane on it,” Ussery said. “We’re going to install bike lanes on 12 Street. One of the worst things you can do to a bike lane is have it go nowhere.”
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The Broad Street renovation is one of eight Transportation Investment Act projects totaling $84 million, designed to upgrade downtown Augusta’s main streets.
The $25 million Broad Street concept was designed by Cooper Carry, an Atlanta landscape architectural firm that specializes in historic rehabilitation, urban design and planning. It was completed and approved by the Augusta Commission in 2016
In 2012, voters in the 13-county region approved the first TIA, a one percent sales tax to run for 10 years. All projects in the third and final band must be designed and let by Dec. 31, according to Georgia Department of Transportation rules.
Sylvia Cooper is a columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com
