After holding an open house in February to solicit feedback on proposals to ease congestion at the intersection of Holly Springs Road and Post Oak Tritt Road, Cobb DOT has scheduled a similar public meeting this month.
The next open house is set for Tuesday, May 14, from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Mountain View Regional Library (3330 Sandy Plains Road) “to review community input received on the Holly Springs Corridor 2022 SPLOST project.”
Cobb DOT has presented three options for improvements at that intersection:
- A roundabout costing $3.4 million
- A signal upgrade costing $2.5 million
- Right turn lanes costing $449,000
Another proposal includes a signal improvement at Holly Springs and Sandy Plains Road, at a cost of $383,000.
Those expenses don’t include acquiring right-of-way properties. The available budget overall is $3.9 million.
Cobb DOT said a roundabout would provide the best traffic relief option, in terms of reducing wait times (see table below).
If that’s done, the existing traffic signal would be removed, and a multilane roundabout would be constructed, similar to what’s on Hembree Road at the entrance to Pope High School.
The signal upgrade calls for through lanes going north and south as well as turn lanes in the north-, south- and eastbound lanes, with the signal rebuilt.
Those projects would take an estimated 16 months to complete.
The third option would add southbound and eastbound right lanes and rebuild the signal.
That option, plus the Holly Springs-Sandy Plains option, would take around six months to complete
Cobb DOT didn’t specify what proposed changes may be in store for the upcoming open house, but the project is still considered to be in the conceptual stage.
Related:
- Cobb puts indefinite hold on Lower Roswell Road project
- Cobb commissioners set 2024 referendum for transit sales tax
- East Cobb transit center, bus routes on Cobb Mobility SPLOST project list
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What CobbDOT is not mentioning in their study is the impact of the roundabout on residents of the community on Post Oak Tritt on the east side of Holly Springs, who are already finding it difficult to make a left turn exit from their community during rush hour when the existing stop light at least provides a break in traffic. These residents are concerned that the roundabout will “improve” traffic flow to the point that even a right turn out of the community will become difficult during more of the day, and a left turn will be nearly impossible. The intersection is just over the hill from the community entrance, and out of direct line of sight of a driver in a standard sedan. Also, both Post Oak Tritt and Holly Springs are moderate-volume roads, and the improved traffic flow would result in fewer breaks in traffic eastbound on Post Oak Tritt, and even fewer accessible breaks in traffic westbound. The proposed signal upgrade would cost less than the roundabout, and provide breaks in traffic to allow the residents to exit their community.
The roundabout mentioned on Hembree outside Pope High is on a cross street (Meadow Drive) which does not carry as much traffic as Post Oak Tritt and Holly Springs do.
The intersection needs an upgrade, that much is clear; but the residents also need to be able to exit the community to go to work or grocery shopping during rush hour.