Tucker moves forward on road improvements, park contract

City staff updated the Tucker City Council at its July 22 meeting regarding the status of three dozen road safety improvement projects that were identified in the North/South Connectivity Study.

The council also awarded a $5.4 million contract to Hasbun Construction LLC  to build a downtown greenspace called Tucker Town Green on a two-acre plat of land on the former Cofer storage lot on Railroad Avenue.

Tucker City Engineer Ken Hildebrandt said of the 36 projects identified in the study, 24 have either entered the design phase or have been completed. However, one project under discussion, road widening at Cooledge Road, will not be part of the road improvement plan.

“We discussed widening Cooledge to four lanes, but the public didn’t like that, and we heard them loud and clear,” Hildebrandt said. “We deleted that part.”

What came out of the discussions was a desire to have safety improvements, sidewalks, and the installation of projects that would ease congestion on existing roadways, he said.

Hildebrandt highlighted the status of several projects on Montreal, Cooledge, Idlewild, Brockett and Friendship Roads that include lane re-striping, signage replacement, bus stop relocation, intersection re-design, and sidewalk installation.

Hildebrandt said future projects will involve “low-hanging fruit,” meaning work that can easily be accomplished. These include roundabout projects on Idlewild Road, right-of-way acquisition work with the Georgia Department of Transportation on Cooledge and Brockett intersections, and finding additional funding sources and opportunities.

The council also approved a $5.4 million contract for the construction of Tucker Town Green, which is expected to be complete by the summer of 2025. The award includes the base amount of $4.9 million with five additional projects – shade sails, bench swings, a climbing mound, a mogul area, and a second entrance in the northwest corner of the park, which increases the contract to $5.4 million.

The total bid is well under the $6.5 million budgeted for the project and has been funded in fiscal year 2025.

“That is outstandingly good news, and this project is super exciting for Tucker,” Mayor Frank Auman said.

In other business, Auman announced a partnership between the city and Rough Draft Atlanta to include, among other initiatives, the inclusion of the city’s magazine “In Tucker” in print editions of the Tucker Reporter.

“We’re excited that the magazine is going to be in the hands of more people both in Tucker and beyond,” Auman said. “Instead of 500 people, it’s going to be available to 5,000.”

The council also:

• Heard an update on the city’s parks and recreation master plan;
• Discussed economic initiatives about offering financial incentives to attract selected industries to Tucker;
• Heard that interim financials for 2024 showed revenue in line with expectations.

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