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PAGE 6A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 9, 2008
Work To Begin This Spring On Upgrade
At S. Apple Valley Road & Highway 15
Dangerous Intersection To Be Realigned, Flattened
Housing Slump Gives
Authority Pause
Over Plant Expansion
By Angela Gary
A safety upgrade at the intersec
tion of Hwy. 15 (the Commerce-
Jefferson Road) and South Apple
Valley Road will finally get started
this spring.
The plans have been in the
works for over a year. The project
involves both local and state road
funds.
The area has become more con
gested due to the opening of the
East Jackson elementary middle
and high schools, all of which can
be accessed off Hwy. 15 via South
Apple Valley Road.
County Engineer Don Clerici
reported on the status of the
project at the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners meet
ing Monday night. Right of way
acquisition will begin in February
and construction is planned to
begin in late May. Hwy. 15 will be
closed for approximately 60-75
days to complete the project and
South Apple Valley Road will be
closed on the Hwy. 15 end for a
time as well.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business:
By Kerri Testement
It was a gruesome accident
on Interstate 85 that state trans
portation officials admit could
have been avoided.
Four children from two sepa
rate vehicles were killed in an
accident on 1-85 in Jackson
County in July 2007, when a
southbound vehicle crossed
the median and stuck a north
bound car. The drivers and pas
sengers of both cars survived
the wreck.
“That accident could have
been prevented, if a cable bar
rier was installed," said Georgia
Department of Transportation
spokesperson David Spear
Thursday.
Jackson County is one of sev
eral area counties slated to see
cable barriers installed by the
end of the year, according to
Spear.
Cable barrier systems use
woven, tension cables attached
to steel posts and are installed
in the open median of major
highways. The cable barriers
have prevented cross-over acci
dents in which vehicles travel
ing in one direction go out of
control, cross the median and
strike vehicles traveling in the
opposite direction — often caus
ing head-on collisions resulting
• Clerici gave an update of the
new jail project to the BOC. Slabs
for the facility will be poured in
March or April. The 424-bed jail
is expected to be open by the
summer of 2009. Commissioner
Jody Thompson asked Clerici
to look into why the cost of the
Jackson County jail, at $31 mil
lion, is so much higher than the
new Barrow County Jail, built for
$17 million.
• During the citizens’ comment
portion of the meeting, Randy
Simmons spoke of concerns
about a fixed base operator
not being at the county airport.
Attorney Alex Repasky then
spoke and said he and two other
men are interested in providing
this service to the airport. They
were asked to contact the county
manager to discuss setting up a
meeting with the airport author
ity to discuss this further.
•Thompson asked staff to
look at ways to improve the
conditions of the intersection
of Hwy. 98 and King Road and
the intersection behind Roper
in Commerce. The latter was the
in fatalities and serious injuries,
according to the DOT.
The DOT will seek bids this
month for a cable barrier sys
tem stretching from S.R. 20
in Buford in Gwinnett County,
through Barrow, Jackson and
Banks counties. That cable bar
rier project will be 41 miles and
will end at the Franklin County
line.
The DOT anticipates award
ing the contract in February,
with construction starting in
the spring and ending in the fall
of 2008, Spear said.
Last week, the DOT announced
plans to install 22.3 miles of
cable barrier on 1-985 between
1-85 and U.S. Hwy. 129 (Jesse
Jewel Parkway) at a cost of $3.8
million. That project spans Hall
and Gwinnett counties.
State transportation board
chairman Mike Evans said in
a statement that he intends to
push for similar projects in all
applicable locations throughout
Georgia.
“I’m both delighted and
relieved to announce these
critical safety projects," Evans
said in a statement. “Anytime
there is an open, grassed center
median on a freeway, there is a
distinct risk of vehicles leaving
their side of the road and strik-
site of a fatal train-truck acci
dent Friday.
• Commissioner Bruce Yates
asked that a policy on discharg
ing firearms in residential areas
be discussed at next month’s
meeting.
•County Manager Darrell
Hampton reported that a BOC
retreat is being planned.
•The meeting schedule for
2008 was set. The BOC will meet
at 6 p.m. on the first and third
Mondays of each month in the
jury assembly room at the court
house.
•District 2 commissioner
Thompson was named vice chair
man.
•Jim Scott was reappointed
to serve on the board of adjust
ment.
•Thompson reported Bill
Warnell will no longer be able
to serve on the airport authority
and a replacement is needed.
•Larry Marchinton was reap
pointed to serve on the danger
ous dog committee.
•J.T. Wilkes, Charlotte Mealor,
Carol Holzhalb, Linda Aaron,
ing oncoming vehicles."
Spear said Georgia averages
550-600 accidents and 24-25
fatalities a year in cross-over
collisions.
In the past, the DOT had
the philosophy that wide, open
medians on highways would
give drivers ample time to cor
rect their vehicles in the event
of an accident.
But with more vehicles on
Georgia roads, and those vehi
cles traveling faster, the DOT
recognizes that drivers don’t
have the ability to make correc
tions, he said.
And that’s one reason the
Georgia DOT is pushing to
install cable barriers through
out the state. Cable barriers are
also cheaper to maintain than
guardrails, Spear said. Georgia
has about 90 miles of cable
Winfield Ward and Margaret
Ward were named to serve on
the historic courthouse restora
tion committee.
• Stan Perdue was reappointed
to serve on the parks and recre
ation committee.
The board also:
• renewed the lease agreement
with Wendell Butler for $1,000
per month for a building at 332
Zion Church Road in Braselton
to house an EMS station.
• approved a resolution sup
porting “prescribed fire," which
is the controlled application of
fire to existing vegetative fuels
under specific environmental
conditions and following appro
priate precautionary measures.
This causes the fire to be con
fined to a pre-determined area
and accomplishes one or more
planned land management objec
tives or to mitigate catastrophic
wildfires.
•agreed to close a portion of
Hoyt Wood Road.
•held a 10-minute closed ses
sion to discuss litigation. No
action was taken.
barriers on interstates and free
ways.
“Cable barrier is relatively
new. We’ve been doing it about
a year," Spear said, while add
ing that other states have
reported successes with cable
barriers.
Cable barriers work in a simi
lar manner like a rubber band
— by absorbing the energy of
an oncoming vehicle and shift
ing the force of the impact to
prevent a cross-over collision.
However, cable barriers don’t
prevent all cross-over accidents,
Spear said. Cable barriers are
not designed to stop vehicles
that are flipping, or tractor-trail
er trucks traveling at a high rate
of speed, he warned.
“But it will certainly stop a
vast majority of the accidents,"
Spear said.
The housing crisis is giv
ing the Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority sec
ond thoughts about the expan
sion of its Middle Oconee
wastewater plant.
The question isn’t whether
to upgrade to 2.5 million gal
lons per day (gpd), but when
to start the process. After
getting reports on bids for
the first phase — increasing
treatment capacity from the
300,000 gpd to 500,000 - the
authority decided at a work
session last Thursday night to
sit tight for at least a month
before making a decision.
Four companies bid on the
first phase, which included
a base bid and six alterna
tives, and the bids came in at
from $5.3 million to $5.5 mil
lion. For practical purposes,
however, the authority at best
could afford only the base bid
and first alternative, which
run right at $1.7 million and
$114,000 respectively.
“What if we don’t do any
thing?" posed Vice Chairman
Randall Pugh.
“That’s an option," answered
Eric Klerk, manager.
“Is it a viable option?" Pugh
returned.
“Yes," replied Klerk.
Pugh suggested that with a
housing slump expected to
last one to two years, “a lot
of people, both public and
private, are backing up and
looking at their plans to add
investment" and asked “would
it be a wise decision for us to
say we’ll come back in a year
and look at it?"
But there are a couple of
wild cards that could affect
the decision, the authority
learned.
First, if it does not build
the first phase, the authority
could get caught short in treat
ment capacity, particularly if
its efforts to reduce inflow
and infiltration — results of
which are unclear because it’s
been so dry — are not satisfac
tory.
Second, the Environmental
Protection Division (EPD) is
pushing the authority to pro
ceed with the plant to the point
of installing a larger clarifier,
and might not accept a delay.
On the other hand, moving
forward is not an absolute
guarantee that the EPD will
increase the plant’s permit to
500,000 gpd anyway.
“What is your recommen
dation?" member Andy
Goodman asked Klerk.
The manager suggested pro
ceeding with the base bid, but
not with any of the alterna
tives.
The base would cover grad
ing, the head works, an emer
gency generator and electrical
work at a cost of $1.7 million.
The first alternative would
have added a sludge handling
building for $114,000, the sec
ond half of which would have
to be built later — in alterna
tive two.
An increase in capacity to
500,000 gpd would give the
authority room to accept
approximately 900 additional
residential customers. It has
450 customers now who gen
erate less than 100,000 gpd,
although the waste flow spiked
to 141,000 gpd during a recent
rainy period, suggesting that
inflow and infiltration problems
still exist. Awaiting the end of
the housing slump are many
more than 900 developed lots
with access to sewer.
The limiting factor in mak
ing the decision is funding.
Klerk says the authority can
cash flow the base bid, main
ly because as of this month
Jackson County is taking
over the $141,000 monthly
payments on the Bear Creek
Reservoir debt. Even that, he
said, will be “tight" for the
authority.
The authority tabled taking
action on the bids until at
least the February meeting.
In the meantime, the author
ity hopes to talk the EPD
into granting it a permit to
treat 500,000 gpd with just the
completion of the first phase.
On a related matter, the
authority announced that it
got a waste load allocation of
1 million gpd for the modular
plant that would be built in
the Diamond C project above
Maysville. That permit is
expandable to 2 million gpd.
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DOT To Install 'Cable Barriers' On 1-85
Project Aimed At Stopping Cross-Over Wrecks Could Be Bid In February
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