ATLANTA — The city of Atlanta says someone painted crosswalks in a busy intersection, but they actually made it even more dangerous.
Channel 2’s Craig Lucie went to Elizabeth Street and Lake and Austin Avenues Tuesday to see the amateur crosswalks. The city says whoever did this, did them wrong and they are in the wrong spot.
"I think somebody, out of months of frustration and not getting any crosswalks from the city, they took it upon themselves to paint the crosswalks," said Tamara Jones.
One of the crosswalks leads to a storm drain, and they certainly don't match the professionally painted crosswalk on Elizabeth Street.
"I have to applaud their effort. One of the crosswalks may make the situation worse," said Jones.
Several neighbors told Lucie that the crosswalks appeared overnight. Lucie interviewed the owner of a nearby dry cleaning shop, and he told Lucie a city official came to see him this week.
"He ask me about who did this and I said I don't know and he said he ask me did I do that and I said if I do that, I would've done better than that," said Thomas Yim.
The city sent Lucie this statement:
"The Office of Transportation did conduct a site survey at Elizabeth St. where it intersects with Lake and Austin Streets. Of the three crosswalks at this location only one is installed by the City.
- The crosswalk that runs across Elizabeth and meets Lake Street is City-installed.
- The crosswalk on the other side of Elizabeth St, which is newly paved, was not installed by the City. That crosswalk will be removed and a correct City crosswalk will installed again by DPW within a week - weather permitting.
- The diagonal crosswalk that runs across where Austin and Lake Streets intersect was not installed by the City and will be removed. A crosswalk does not belong there.
The City of Atlanta strongly discourages unauthorized individuals to install their own crosswalks or paint on city streets. If the residents have questions or concerns about crosswalks, please encourage them to contact ATL311 and submit a service request.
And finally, the Office of Transportation is scheduled to install a crosswalk on the corner of Austin Street where it meets Elizabeth. Currently, there is a stop line there. Handicap ramps will be installed at Austin and Elizabeth streets. After the ramps are installed, the crosswalk at that intersection will be installed. This will be done within a month.”
WSBTV
