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Wednesday, May 23,2018
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
GDOT holds open house for roundabout plans
Allie Dean Dawson County News
Georgia Department of Transportation Project Manager Heidi
Schneider talks to a citizen about proposed roundabouts at
Hwy. 9 and Dawson Forest Road during an open house May
15.
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County residents
trickled into the lunchroom at
Riverview Elementary School
last Tuesday to see and hear
plans for a double roundabout
planned at the intersection of
Hwy. 9 South and Dawson
Forest Road.
Representatives with the
Georgia Department of
Transportation stood at vari
ous stations, passing out infor
mation and comment cards to
attendees and answering ques
tions about the proposed traf
fic changes.
Julie Hughes Nix, Dawson
County’s District 4 commis
sioner, was one of the first to
arrive, and talked with a
GDOT representative about
the proximity of her home and
property to the new round
abouts.
Nix lives on Dawson Forest
Road East just before the
intersection, but was told that
the only thing that would
impact her directly would be a
few feet of paving at the end
of her driveway.
In fact, no right of way will
have to be acquired for the
project, which is estimated to
cost around $4 million.
The double roundabout is
estimated to open in the sum
mer or fall of 2021 after 18 to
24 months of construction.
GDOT will award the con
tracts for the work in July of
2019, with a potential start
date for construction later that
summer.
The reason that two single
lane roundabouts are neces
sary at the crossroads is due to
the existing structure of the
two intersections.
According to the project
plans, there are two intersec
tions on Hwy. 9 prior to the
main intersection, and both
provide right-turn access to
Dawson Forest Road via a
connector street. There are
also two intersections on
Dawson Forest Road prior to
the main intersection and both
provide left turn access to
Hwy. 9 via a connector street.
The proposed project would
replace the existing unsignal
ized intersections with the
roundabouts, which will be
constructed independently of
each other since the existing
intersections are offset from
each other.
One big roundabout, as one
citizen suggested at the open
house, wouldn’t be feasible.
Many of the citizens present
at the open house were merely
curious about how the traffic
would flow around the inter
section (something difficult to
describe even when watching
the GDOT-provided video dia
grams) or how construction
would affect their commute to
work, and the question and
answer session proved fruitful
as many had their queries
answered.
Some, however, remained
resolute that the concept of
two roundabouts is too much
in a county still reeling from a
certain Continuous Flow
Intersection located at Ga. 400
and Hwy. 53, which was com
pleted last May.
“I went to the original meet
ing for the (CFI), what it
ended up with isn’t what they
originally showed,” said Sarah
Reed, county resident. “It’s
common sense versus GDOT.
People in the U.S. aren’t used
to traffic circles unless you’ve
lived in D.C. It’s an accident
waiting to happen.”
Reed’s pessimism was
shared by many, but according
to Katie Strickland, District
One communications officer
with GDOT, once completed,
the roundabouts will actually
reduce conflict points and
enhance safety.
“You’re not going to have
the high-speed angle crashes,
you’re not going to have the
left turn crashes, you’re not
going to have the head-on col
lisions. So those three will be
eliminated from these round
abouts.”
Since 2009, there have been
40 crashes, 30 injuries and no
fatalities at the intersection,
according to Strickland.
“Converting this to the
roundabout could result in
reducing crashes by 45.6 per
cent, and that was part of the
study that (GDOT) did,” she
said.
Strickland also said that the
traffic capacity of the intersec
tion will last for 20 years.
GDOT is still in the engi
neering and designing phase
of the project, and are wel
coming any suggestions or
comments from the public.
Comments will be accepted
until May 30, 2018. To leave a
comment online, go to www.
dot.ga.gov/PS/PublicOutreach.
From the menu, select
“Dawson County” and click
“Go.” Then select “State
Route 9 at Dawson Forest
Road Roundabouts.” Fastly,
click “comment” and follow
the instructions to leave your
comments.
Comments can also be
mailed to Eric Duff, Georgia
Department of Transportation,
600 West Peachtree Street
NW, 16th Floor, Atlanta, Ga.
30308.
New member appointed to Board of Elections
For the Dawson County News
Marie Head was recent
ly appointed by the
Dawson County
Democratic Party to fill a
vacant seat on the
Dawson County Board
of Elections. She took
the official oath on May
16 at the board of elec
tions office. Head is fill
ing the remaining term
of Spencer Maddux,
who retired in April after
13 years on the board.
The term ends in
December. Head joins
Chairwoman Glenda
Ferguson as well as
Katrina Holbrook, Dan
Pichon and Dale Holland
on the board.
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