ATLANTA — Residents along Cherokee Avenue in southeast Atlanta are calling for changes after multiple drivers crashed into protected bike lane barriers in recent weeks.
Neighbors say they are unsure how the crashes keep happening but want the city to make the barriers more visible to better protect both motorists and cyclists.
Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers began asking the Atlanta Department of Transportation about the issue Friday. Since then, neighbors said city crews have added reflectors to the barriers. On Tuesday evening, Rogers also saw crews installing flexible bollards alongside the barriers.
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Holly Wagner witnessed one of the most recent crashes from her home on Cherokee Avenue.
“I was picking tomatoes, heard a big loud boom and scraping. I looked up, and he was up on the barrier, two wheels on the ground, the other two in the area, the barrier underneath, and he was just riding down it.”
Wagner’s husband took a photo of the vehicle balanced on the barrier.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “He just kept driving.”
Wagner said it was not the first crash involving the bike lane.
“About a week before somebody hit it coming southbound and flipped the car on its side,” she said.
Grant Park neighbor Lauren Ogg said she was not shocked after seeing the photo.
“I’m not really surprised. They’re super low, and if you were driving aggressively or something, you might not have seen them,” Ogg said.
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Neighbors said they would like the city to make the barriers easier for drivers to see.
A spokesperson from ATLDOT sent the following statement:
“ATLDOT is aware of incidents involving vehicles striking the protected bike lane separation barriers. Our engineering team is reviewing the circumstances of these incidents and evaluating potential modifications to the installation to improve the visibility of the protected bike lane and its barriers. APD does not have a role in this review. Based on the information available, these incidents appear to be the result of driver error and do not appear to be a violation of a traffic law.”
Wagner, an avid cyclist, said she believes additional improvements would help.
“I think the bike lanes need to be painted green, and I think there should be set in metal bollards, so people cannot drive into them.”
Despite the recent crashes, Wagner said the bike barrier is serving an important purpose.
“They’re working just the way it should. If that wasn’t there somebody could have been killed because he was right in the lane.”
Neighbors said the barriers have been in place for only a few months. Before they were installed, the city used planters to separate the bike lane from traffic. Residents said drivers frequently struck those as well, pushing the planters into the bike lane.
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