Residents press Roswell for traffic calming, enforcement and sidewalks as slow-down initiatives advance

Residents used the March 31 open forum to press city officials on several traffic and safety issues, from enforcement of no-parking zones in residential lanes to sidewalks and large-scale traffic calming projects.

Jason Yowell described repeated problems with people and construction vehicles parking in a signed deceleration (decel) lane on Pine Grove and said repeated calls to police had not produced citations. Mayor Kurt Wilson and staff committed to a follow-up meeting including the police chief and senior staff to investigate enforcement options and address the immediate safety concerns Yowell raised.

Director of Transportation Jeff Littlefield told the meeting that a prior plan to put roundabouts on Grimes Bridge Road had been dropped; the city will look at other traffic calming measures. Mayor Wilson and staff also described a planned comprehensive initiative called "Slow Down Roswell" that aims to expand walkability, multimodal connections and traffic-calming projects across neighborhoods. The mayor said the city authorized a roughly $20 million Pine Grove project to address cut-through traffic coming from Cobb County and that the project is designed to slow traffic.

Residents raised a need for sidewalks on Old Dogwood between Riverside Road and Grimes Bridge, noting high speeds and low lighting on the hill; staff asked to follow up with the resident to provide project-status detail. The mayor said several large state projects, including a Georgia 400 managed lanes project and a diverging-diamond interchange, have related traffic impacts and that the city is working with state partners to influence project designs where possible.

Staff said some multi-use trail and neighborhood-connection planning is underway and that specific projects will be rolled out under the Slow Down Roswell effort.