Foley safety plan includes medians on Hwy. 59, many pedestrian upgrades

Foley safety plan includes medians on Hwy. 59, many pedestrian upgrades
Foley hosted a recent public input meeting to give its residents the chance to comment on where they think improvements should be made and comment on the initial findings of the city’s traffic study. The plan process is part of a Federal Highway Administration program
One traffic issue facing Foley is the number of cars passing through the community going to and coming from the Gulf Coast beaches.
Recommendations in the draft proposal included:
• Replacing the center left-turn lanes on McKenzie Street – Hwy. 59 – through the center of Foley, between Underwood Road and Pride Drive, with medians and providing left-turn lanes as needed. Other work in the area includes improvements to make the area more accessible to pedestrians.
• Safety measures and pedestrian upgrades at the intersections of Hickory, Cedar, Oak, Pine, Alston and Chicago streets where it intersects Hwy. 98.
• A speed study and traffic calming measures on Hickory Street between Baldwin County 12 and U.S. 98. Other possible measures on Hickory include warning signs with flashers and rumble strips at County 12, narrowing some lanes and installing bicycle lanes.
• The intersection at Pride Drive and Juniper Street could be improved with flashing yellow signals and switch-operated pedestrian crossings. An access management plan would guide future development in that area of the city.
• Other streets where improvements are proposed include Cedar Street, the Foley Beach Express, Alston Street, Oak Street, Roosevelt Ave., Poplar Street, 9th Avenue and James Road.
Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the safety plan will not only help city officials pinpoint areas where improvements are needed, but could help Foley receive funding to make those improvements.
He said grant providers often ask that communities seeking funding have safety plans in place before considering giving money for projects and Foley has been working on the project in conjunction with the Alabama Department of Transportation, which maintains the primary highways through the area.
“What this program does is it identifies safety shortcomings in our city and it gives us a goal of what to work on over the next 20 years,” Hellmich said.
He said the public input meeting allowed residents to comment on where they think improvements should be made and comment on the initial findings of the study.
“This is basically a public hearing for people to come in and talk about possibilities,” he said.
Part of a Federal Highway Administration program, the plan will increase safety and decrease logjams for traffic moving through South Baldwin County. In the five years from 2018 to 2022, 5,218 traffic accidents occurred in Foley. People died or were seriously injured in 136 of those accidents.
The mayor said one traffic issue facing Foley is the number of cars passing through the community going to and coming from the Gulf Coast beaches.
“You can’t just say get all the cars off the road. That won’t work,” Hellmich said. “We can’t stop the 28 million cars that come through our city that go to Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. That’s just out of our control.”