Avondale Estates, GA — The city of Avondale Estates is in the process of looking into improvements to make to Laredo Drive between Clarendon Avenue and the Stone Mountain Trail. The Avondale Estates City Commission, at its March 23 meeting, approved a contract with Pond Engineering for engineering services for improvements to Laredo Drive.

The contract is for an amount not to exceed $28,300.

According to City Manager Patrick Bryant, the scope of work includes:

– A survey of the area to use.

– Evaluation of the subgrade conditions and pavement rehabilitation options.

– Concept design for pedestrian and landscaping improvements.

– Construction documents.

The city is moving forward with creating a paving plan. The city worked with Clark Patterson Lee and subcontractor to do an assessment of all the streets in the city, Bryant said at the March 9 work session.

“We have discussed previously that our analysis of the condition of roadways throughout the city has identified Laredo Drive as the No. 1 priority for the city,” Bryant said at the March 23 regular meeting. “For Laredo Drive, an engineered design is necessary given the current condition of the road. It is not in a place where we can just go mill and pave. We’re going to have to do some additional things to ensure that Laredo Drive is in the shape that we need it to be in.”

The initial concept design in the proposal includes a 10-foot-wide cycle track with narrowed 10-foot travel lanes, a widened sidewalk and adjusted curbs at the intersection of Laredo and Clarendon as well as where Laredo intersects with the Stone Mountain Trail, improvements on both sides of the railroad tracks to link the trail to a new crosswalk, new curbing on the east side of the street and to maintain the existing curb and sidewalk on the west side of the street.

The concept design will be brought back to the board in a public meeting for review and comment.

In other business:

— The city commission also approved two change orders to the U.S. 278 road diet designs in the amount of $107,636 for additional costs due to unexpected planning documents the Georgia Department of Transportation requires during the concept development phase. The change order also includes other costs associated with additional engineering for the traffic signal design in the amount of $96,673.

The Atlanta Regional Commission has granted the city about $161,000 in federal funds with a local match of $40,400 to be put toward these additional design costs.

“For these design-based cost overruns or the engineering-based cost overruns, ARC has graciously awarded us with funds to cover those with a match component that we have already spent,” Bryant said. “The funds that ARC is providing will cover the remainder of the cost overrun that we have incurred to date.”

— The property owners of 3125 Kensington Road had requested a variance from the city to reduce the front and side setbacks. They had planned to demolish the current home and rebuild. The property owner has withdrawn their application.

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