The Truman Linear Park’s time has come. The Chatham County Commission has agreed, and members have said at their meeting Friday that they will push the project forward with or without funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This 4.8 mile segment of off-road multiuse trail is vitally important to fill the north-south safety gap of Skidaway, Truman Parkway, and Waters Ave where nonmotorized travel is particularly hazardous, and would also be a valuable recreational amenity for the community.
The Coastal Region MPO, our regional governmental transportation planning board for the greater Savannah area, will choose priorities for just over $7 million of ARRA transportation projects this Thursday April 30 at 10am at the MPC building at 112 E State St, and though there are some issues with whether this project will meet criteria (see comments here), the project’s earliest, best chance for full funding is now.
As mentioned recently elsewhere, road projects are an automatic for GDOT, but advocates for bicycle and pedestrian projects must repeatedly and forcefully make their voices heard if accomodation to users other than the fastest and heaviest is to be made. Please, if you are available, come to the meeting with your helmet and set the tone for our local decision makers on Thursday at 10am, not only for this important and overdue project, but to let them know that continued ignorance of these problems is not an option. This item will be early in the agenda, so please join us on Thursday!
