Wednesday, February 20,2019
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
Rules change again for passing school buses
By Joshua Silavent
DCN Regional Staff
The Georgia legislature on
Friday, Feb. 15, reversed a con
troversial change in state law
approved last year that allowed
motorists more leeway to pass
stopped school buses.
“I can rest a little easier tonight,
and I believe that’s true for our
school transportation directors
and parents, as well,” state schools
Superintendent Richard Woods
said in a statement.
For years, the law only
allowed motorists traveling in
the opposite direction of a
school bus stopped along a
four-lane roadway to pass when
a median (grass, concrete, etc.)
was in place.
But a law passed in 2018 (as
part of broader legislation that
included capping fines for illegal
ly passing a school bus at $250
per instance and gave local gov
ernments the authority to establish
cameras in school zones to catch
speeders) changed this.
It said that if a four-lane road
has a center turn lane dividing
each direction of travel, then
motorists can legally pass a
stopped school bus.
The law was signed and took
effect July 1.
Opponents of the change,
including administrators and
transportation directors with
both Gainesville City Schools
and Hall County Schools,
feared the new exemption
would place students in danger,
and create more accidents and
unsafe bus stops.
“Today, Senate Bill 25 was
signed,” Woods said. “It revers
es the change and takes effect
immediately - it is once again
clear that in Georgia it is illegal
to pass a stopped school bus
unless on a highway divided by
a grass median, unpaved area,
or physical barrier.”
Last day for applications for Joe Dumphy
Memorial Golf Scholarship is March 17
Photo for the Dawson County News
Joe Dumphy was killed in a car wreck upon leaving Chestatee Golf
Club in July 2015.
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
The application deadline for the
fourth annual Joe Dumphy
Memorial Golf Scholarship is less
than a month away. The last day
applicants can submit their applica
tion is March 17.
Joe Dumphy was a freshman at
North Forsyth High School when he
died in July 2015 after sustaining
injuries in a car wreck as he left
Chestatee Golf Club in Dawsonville.
A memorial scholarship was estab
lished in his honor by his family to
financially assist junior golfers as
they chase the college dream that
Dumphy was not able to pursue.
The memorial fund provided
more than $15,000 in local scholar
ships between 2016 and 2017. Last
year, in what would have been
Dumphy’s senior year of high
school, the memorial fund far sur
passed its record by providing
$17,000 to local athletes.
At minimum, the scholarship
board will award a $5,000 college
scholarship to one local college
bound high school senior in
Dawson or Forsyth County and
additional scholarships to other
deserving high school seniors in
any county in Georgia.
Eligible candidates are male or
female high school seniors residing
in any Georgia county that current
ly attend a private or public school
or are home schooled. They must
also emulate Joe Dumphy’s charac
ter and approach to life.
According to the scholarship
application, ideal candidates “excel
academically; participate in activi
ties that support their community;
pursues extracurricular interests —
with an emphasis on golf — and
have demonstrated leadership and
solid, faith-based moral character.”
Candidates do not have to be on a
golf team to apply.
The application is available now
at www.joedumphygolf.org.
GDOT meeting
to discuss express
lane on Ga. 400
By Kelly Whitmire
DCN Regional Staff
The Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation
will conduct a series of
meetings on upcoming
express lanes on Ga. 400,
including a meeting in
Forsyth County.
Meetings will take
place at Hilton Garden
in Alpharetta on Feb.
28; at the Forsyth
Conference Center on
March 5, at the
DoubleTree in Roswell
on March 7 and at City
Springs in Sandy
Springs and on March
12.
Last year, the project
received $184 million in
Infrastructure for
Rebuilding America, or
INFRA, grant funding to
add two express lanes on
each side of Ga. 400
from the North Springs
Marta Station in Sandy
Springs to McGinnis
Ferry Road and one
express lane in each
direction from McGinnis
Ferry to McFarland
Parkway.
Express lanes are
optional toll lanes along
existing lanes aimed at
allowing drivers to
bypass congestion.
Construction for the
express lanes is slated to
begin in 2021 and be
completed by 2024.
The lanes are not
planned to reduce the
number of normal lanes
on the road, including
new lanes funded
through a $200 million
transportation bond
approved by voters in
2014.
According to GDOT,
the new lanes will add
65 miles of road and
reduce traffic delays by
18 percent.
Once other projects
are completed, the new
Ga. 400 lanes will tie in
with express lanes on
1-285 between 1-75 and
1-85.
The projects are one
of 11 Major Mobility
Investment program
projects from around the
state. The projects
include interstate widen-
ings for options of 1-85
and 1-16, commercial
vehicle lanes on 1-75
near Macon and inter
change reconstruction
projects on 1-16 and
1-285.
The projects total $11
billion.
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