Cobb spending an additional $160K for engineering design for Lower Roswell traffic improvements

Long-delayed plans for Lower Roswell traffic improvements in the Johnson Ferry Road area are getting some action.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners last week approved a contract for $160,145 for additional engineering design work.

It’s the second time supplemental funding for design work has been approved for that project, bringing the total spending for pre-construction engineering to $650,000 in Cobb’s consulting contract with Smith Gresham and Partners.

The original contact was for $445,000. Cobb DOT said the extra funding was needed to “revise the original concept preliminary design and right-of-way plans.”

The project, which is the final phase of improvements in the Lower Roswell corridor, call for significant changes between Woodlawn Drive and Davidson Road, although no final plans have been determined.

They include a possible raised median along part of the route, longer turn lanes and improved traffic and pedestrian signals.

It was initially approved in the 2011 SPLOST (initial project summary here and project concept here) and Cobb DOT officials held public open houses in 2012 to tout the changes.

But it has run into snags from the beginning.

The major concerns were from business owners on the north side of Lower Roswell, east from Johnson Ferry to Davidson. A raised median is proposed, but has not been formally approved, to cut down on left-turn traffic coming out of Parkaire Landing Shopping Center.

District 2 Cobb commissioner Bob Ott told East Cobb News he wanted changes that would have “the least amount of impact on those businesses.”

He said early designs called for a service road from the McDonald’s on Lower Roswell to Davidson to accommodate access to those businesses, but that road is not going to be built.

Ott said the additional design work was sought since the original proposal was made so long ago. Because the project is SPLOST-approved by voters, it must be completed. There isn’t a timetable for the design revisions.

Right-of-way purchases also remain outstanding. The elderly occupant of an old white house facing Lower Roswell at Woodlawn has passed away in recent months, and property acquisition is still in progress.

The Lower Roswell project includes additional sidewalks as well as through and turn lanes in and around the intersection at Woodlawn.

The total cost of the project, when finished, is expected to come to $6.2 million, with nearly half of that right-of-way purchases.

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