Lower Roswell Road near the Sope Creek Bridge was the last area for the East Cobb Pipeline Project water main to be installed. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The new 54-inch water main along a 6.1-mile stretch of Lower Roswell Road and Terrell Mill Road has been put in place. But the East Cobb Pipeline Project isn’t quite finished.
Post-installation work continues and will conclude with repaving. The $47 million project, which began two years ago, will still involve some traffic disruption in the coming weeks. More about what’s ahead from Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, who sent out this message on Friday:
Over the next several weeks, the East Cobb Pipeline project will come to a close. Commuters will continue to see crews on site performing final backfill, testing, paving and cleanup activities with single lane closures decreasing in frequency. By the end of this week, the entire pipeline will be filled with water for pressure testing the week of 9/11 while other crews continue to prepare the road for repaving. During the week of Sept. 18, disinfection of the pipeline will take place, as well as possible paving from Sope Creek to Lindsey Road, depending on weather and progress. After testing and commissioning of the pipeline, final resurfacing will take place by Cobb County Department of Transportation. For questions or concerns, please call the project hotline at 770-514-5301.
Lower Roswell Road at Indian Hills Court, where pipeline construction is nearing completion. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Around 4:30 p.m. today Cobb DOT announced there will be night construction of the East Cobb Pipeline project tonight along Lower Roswell Road between Ancient Oaks Court and Indian Hills Trail, just east of the Sope Creek Bridge.
The work is scheduled from 7 p.m. tonight until 5 a.m. Wednesday and traffic will be down to one lane along that 0.8-mile stretch of Lower Roswell.
It’s part of the final phase of the water main installation, and when we drove by there earlier this afternoon, you could see the project was tantalizingly close to being done. Less than a hundred feet of water main installation remains, as crews work primarily around the bridge area on Lower Roswell on either side of Sope Creek.
Weekday traffic is reduced to one lane between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., with crews alternating passage, as has been the case since the project began in late 2015.
Temporary paving of this final stretch of Lower Roswell is expected to take place next week, followed by final resurfacing by Cobb DOT. For more information, call the East Cobb Pipeline Project hotline at 770-514-5301.
Cobb DOT photo of Roswell Road at South Marietta Parkway shortly before the ramp reopened early Friday morning.
UPDATED, 2:25 P.M.: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said what turned out to be a deadly confrontation between a motorist and Cobb Police early Friday morning at a traffic accident scene in East Cobb involved the use of a Taser.
According to a GBI statement issued shortly after 2 p.m. today, the male driver of a white Dodge Caravan, which was heading westbound on Roswell Road, passed a marked Cobb Police car at an excessively high rate of speed.
Police tried to stop the Dodge Caravan, then pursued his vehicle, which then slammed into another car on the ramp to the South Marietta Parkway. The GBI said the driver of the Dodge Caravan “became combative and fought with officers” who had arrived at the accident scene. During the confrontation, one officer utilized his Taser, according to the GBI, and “the subject became unresponsive. He was transported to the hospital where he died.”
According to the GBI statement, the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy on the deceased man, whose identity has not been disclosed.
The GBI said several officers received minor injuries during the struggle but did not require medical attention. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident was hospitalized with minor injuries, according to the GBI.
The GBI continues to investigate the post-crash incident, while the Georgia State Patrol probes the accident. The GBI will turn over its findings to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED 1:32 P.M.: Cobb Police said one person died early Friday following a collision involving two cars on the ramp connecting Roswell Road and the South Marietta Parkway in East Cobb.
The accident happened at 12:46 a.m., according to police, and the ramp was closed until around 7:30 a.m.
According to a statement from Cobb Police, the male driver of a white Dodge Caravan traveling westbound on Roswell Road passed a Cobb Police officer in a marked patrol car at a high rate of speed.
When the driver entered the ramp to South Marietta Parkway, the Dodge Caravan hit another vehicle in the curve, police said.
When they arrived at the accident scene, officers from Cobb Precinct 4 struggled with the Dodge Caravan driver, who was arrested and later transported to a hospital, where he died, according to the Cobb Police statement.
Cobb Police have not identified the man who died.
The accident remains under investigation and is being conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia State Patrol.
Cobb DOT photo of Johnson Ferry Road looking southbound at the Woodlawn Drive intersection. Northbound lanes also are backed up.
UPDATED, 1:35 P.M.: Cobb DOT reports that all northbound and southbound lanes of Johnson Ferry Road have reopened to traffic.
ORIGINAL REPORT: At around 12:45 p.m. Friday, Cobb DOT reported that an accident in the southbound lanes of Johnson Ferry Road and Woodlawn Drive is causing major traffic delays.
The delays are being experienced in both the southbound and northbound directions on Johnson Ferry Road.
UPDATED, 1:07 p.m.: Cobb DOT now says the intersection has reopned to traffic. Lower Roswell had been closed between Shadowlawn Drive and Indian Hills Trail.
ORIGINAL POST, 10:46 a.m.: Around 10:38 a.m. this morning, Cobb DOT announced that Lower Roswell Road is closed at Indian Hills Parkway due to a broken gas main, and that traffic delays are very heavy.
Please avoid the area; we will post more updates as we get them.
A Cobb Police cruiser prevents westbound traffic onto Roswell Road from Bishop Lake Road so power crews could make repairs. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Cobb Police shut down a short stretch of Roswell Road east of Johnson Ferry Road Tuesday afternoon due to an accident, but it caused plenty of traffic headaches.
A dump truck struck a power pole and traffic in both directions was shut down between Timber Ridge Road and Bishop Lake Drive for a couple of hours.
The shutdown took place approximately between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with major backups on Timber Ridge and Bishop Lake during that period, with some after-school bus and related traffic also affected.
Shortly before Roswell was re-opened, the Catholic Church of St. Ann—located at the Roswell-Bishop Lake intersection—sent out a notice on its Facebook page for parishioners to build in more time for tonight’s 7 p.m. Feast of the Assumption mass.
Power crews were still working on the side of the road once Roswell was re-opened to traffic.
The congested Bells Ferry Road intersection at Piedmont Road and Barrett Parkway is scheduled for a proposed improvement project that would include left- and right-hand turn lanes.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday will consider at $2 million funding request to make the changes, which include the following additions:
northbound and southbound dual left turn lanes on Bells Ferry Road;
a northbound right turn lane on Bells Ferry Road;
a westbound right turn lane on Piedmont Road.
The project was approved in the 2005 Cobb SPLOST transportation list, and the low bidder is Acworth-based Glosson Enterprises. The timetable for completion is projected to be a year.
Another East Cobb-related road project on Tuesday’s agenda (here’s the full book) includes approving a $63,700 contract for Excellere Construction to build a sidewalk on the east side of Providence Road, between Providence Corner Drive and Pine Road.
The commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 2nd floor meeting room of the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
The final phase of the Pope roundabout project has taken place all summer. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Updated, 5:15 p.m.: The roundabout has opened! We got there about two hours before traffic in all directions was open to the public.
We swung by the Pope High School roundabout project Sunday afternoon, the day before school begins, and the construction work at Hembree Road and Meadow Drive is just about complete. There were intermittent closures as work crews were doing finishing-up work, but some traffic was allowed to go through along Hembree.
The roundabout, with an estimated cost exceeding $3 million, replaces a traffic signal at Hembree and Meadow and includes some crosswalk work in the vicinity of the Pope entrance.
Anyone traveling on Hembree from Post Oak Tritt to Pope should be advised that the road still needs repaving with a top coat; it’s a grinding drive to the school and beyond.
Cobb DOT prepared the following video about the roundabout:
This notice and accompanying map of the detour route were just released by Cobb County Government:
Georgia Department of Transportation construction partners will close the I-75 southbound exit ramp to Delk Road to install a barrier wall on the bridge overhead. The construction is part of the I-75 Northwest Corridor Express Lanes project.WHEN: Thursday, July 20, 8 p.m. – Friday, July 21, 5 a.m.
WHERE: I-75 Southbound Exit Ramp to Delk Road Closure – Motorists traveling I-75 southbound to Delk Road will be directed to take exit 263 for South Marietta Parkway. From there, motorists will be directed to turn right onto South Marietta Parkway, followed by a left onto Cobb Parkway. Motorists will then resume travel on Delk Road.
ADVISORY: Exact dates may change due to weather or other extenuating factors. Motorists are advised to expect delays, exercise caution, and reduce their speed while traveling through work zones. Before heading out, get real-time information on work status and traffic conditions. Call 511, visit 511ga.org, or download the Georgia 511 app.
Please visit the project website at http://www.dot.ga.gov/DS/GEL/NWC to stay informed, or email northwestcorridor@dot.ga.gov to subscribe to weekly traffic alerts.
One-lane traffic on Lower Roswell Road as part of the East Cobb Pipeline Project remains around the bridge over Sope Creek. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Two important road items of interest to East Cobb motorists got the green light Tuesday from the Cobb Board of Commissioners, one immediate and that’s long-term.
The first concerns the repaving along Lower Roswell Road following the completion of the East Cobb Pipeline Project.
The commission approved a change order request to expand an existing repaving project to include the 2.08-mile stretch from Old Canton Road to Indian Hills Parkway, and it won’t cost taxpayers any additional funding.
Instead, the estimated cost of $593,095 will come out of already-approved money (via the 2016 SPLOST) as part of the Cobb DOT’s contract with Baldwin Paving Co., which has been repaving 25-30 roads around the county.
The money is available due to underruns in the overall Baldwin contract, according to Cobb DOT.
“The road when it’s finished will be a great improvement,” East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said before the 5-0 vote.
In another 5-0 vote, the commission approved an engineering design contract with Gresham Smith and Partners for $483,359 for replacement of the Willeo Road bridge over Willeo Creek. It’s a joint project with the City of Roswell, with each jurisdiction kicking in around $213,900 each. Roswell is spending an additional $55,474 for design work for a multi-use trail boardwalk that will connect to the new bridge.
Multi-use trails along Lower Roswell also reach the Cobb side of the bridge and continue westbound, close to Johnson Ferry Road, where bicycle and pedestrian trails are proposed as part of the Johnson Ferry Urban Design Plan approved in 2011.
