Atlanta Bicycle Coalition calls for safety improvements at Midtown intersection

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition (ABC) is urging immediate action to improve the safety of the 10th Street and Monroe Drive intersection after a Grady High School freshman was killed last week.

Alexia Hyneman was killed on Thursday night after she was struck by a vehicle while crossing at the intersection.

“We’re devastated by the news of Grady High School student Alexia Hyneman’s death while riding home from school,” Rebecca Serna, executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, said in a news release. “Grady High School, Piedmont Park, a protected bike lane and the Atlanta BeltLine all meet at 10th and Monroe. It’s one of the city’s busiest intersections for people on foot and bike, and everyone who uses it deserves to be safe.”

Specific safety improvements from the ABC are:

• Configure the light at 10th/Monroe so it is easily understood by people on foot and bike
• Shorten the wait time for people on foot and bike to cross the street; lengthen and automate the walk phase
• Improve street lighting at 10th Street and Monroe Drive, including the BeltLine intersection
• Accelerate the Monroe Drive Complete Streets project, funded in the Renew Atlanta bond
• Create a bicycle connection on Monroe Drive to make it safe and predictable for all pedestrians and cyclists

The ABC also appealed for increased enforcement of red-light violations and a public campaign to end drivers from running red lights at all city intersections.

“The City of Atlanta has made great strides in the past few years toward the kind of infrastructure that makes everyday walking and biking good transportation options,” Serna said. “But as more and more Atlantans bike or walk to their destinations or to MARTA, we can’t leave them stranded in dangerous gaps between very good pieces of infrastructure. Each trip is only as good, and as safe, as its worst crossing. What Alexia’s death tragically shows us is that Atlanta’s street network must prioritize safety over minimizing delays to traffic.”