MACON, Ga. — One of Georgia's deadliest roads for pedestrians is getting some new safety measures.
Several small concrete islands are planned along the busy Gray Highway and Shurling Drive to try to help people cross more safely.
According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, five medianettes are planned to be built for pedestrians.
The medianettes are six inches tall, and eight feet wide, and they are meant to decrease speeding and create a safer environment for pedestrians.
"We are all in this together, this is one Macon," Bibb County Coroner Lean Jones said. "If we can save one person, we've done something"
Gray Highway is known to be one of the deadliest highways for pedestrians in Bibb County.
According to Jones, in 2021, 16 pedestrians were fatally killed by vehicles. In 2022, there were 15 pedestrians were killed. As of Aug. 24, 2023, there have been seven pedestrian fatalities.
"People who are trying to cross these busy high-speed highways will at least be able to move to the midway point on the road and then have a safe place to stop," Bibb County Commissioner Elaine Lucas said.
Lucas also serves on the Pedestrian Safety Review Board and looks forward to decreasing pedestrian fatalities.
"They are doing an awful lot of work on Gray Highway, Shurling Drive, Eisenhower Parkway and Pio Nono Avenue," Lucas said. "These are state roads where we have been losing the majority of our citizens."
When it comes to the local businesses and how these medianettes will affect their customers, Blanca Ramos, a cashier at Village Market off of Gray Highway, says it will help keep people safe.
"Well, that's great because we've been having a lot of accidents," Ramos said. "It's not responsible to walk in the middle of the streets because you don't know what's happening and especially if you've been drinking, you don't have a grasp of all five of your senses."
According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, the road work has yet to be put out for bidding, but they estimated the project to cost $200,000. It is set to begin sometime next year.