Project details:

The 2024 SPLOST capital budget included funding to construct pedestrian hybrid beacon crossings (PHBs) at two locations:

1) One PHB at the existing crosswalk on North Peachtree Road in front of Chesnut Elementary School

2) Another PHB at a new mid-block crosswalk on Perimeter Center West between Perimeter Mall and the Terraces office complex.

Both locations meet the minimum standards for the number of pedestrian crossings required by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) for a Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon installation. 

The City allocated $425,000 in the 2024 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) budget for these two projects, and the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (PCIDs) budgeted a 50 percent funding match for the Perimeter Center West project. 

According to the Federal Highway Administration, the PHB is a traffic control device designed to help pedestrians safely cross higher-speed roadways at midblock crossings and uncontrolled intersections. The beacon head consists of two red lenses above a single yellow lens. The lenses remain ”dark“ until a pedestrian desiring to cross the street pushes the call button to activate the beacon, which then initiates a yellow to red lighting sequence consisting of flashing and steady lights that directs motorists to slow and come to a stop, and provides the right-of-way to the pedestrian to safely cross the roadway before going dark again.