East Cobb Pipeline Project

EAST COBB TRAFFIC UPDATE: Lower Roswell road work completion expected Nov. 1

by
Lower Roswell road work
(East Cobb News file photo)

If you travel along Lower Roswell Road around the Sope Creek Bridge, you’re still subjected to the weekday lane closures that have been in place since the East Cobb Pipeline Project began in late 2015.

Well, there is a projected end date for the delays as the post-installation Lower Roswell Road work nears completion: Nov. 1, according to Commissioner Bob Ott’s office, which sent out word Friday.

It was a brief message, noting that “final paving will be done in the evening hours. Thank you to everyone for your patience over the year. Hopefully traffic patterns will return to pre-pipeline.”

Further west on Lower Roswell, repaving work continues between Holt Road and the South Marietta Parkway as part of a separate traffic improvements project that includes road widening and turn lanes, especially around Sedalia Park Elementary School and Eastvalley Elementary School. Here’s more from Ott’s office about that:

This project consists of widening Lower Roswell Road from approximately 425 feet east of SR120/South Marietta Parkway to Holt Road, and includes the addition of left-turn lanes, right-turn lanes, and signal modifications. The project will also add sidewalks within the project limits, and will include resurfacing from SR120/South Marietta Parkway to Terrell Mill Road. 
 
Resurfacing Operations NIGHT WORK – are scheduled through Sunday, Nov. 12, on Lower Roswell Road between Utica Drive and South Marietta Parkway. Expect lane closures between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. with one lane remaining open at all times. 

The portion of Lower Roswell between Terrell Mill and Holt has been repaved, but there is still striping work to be done.

East Cobb pipeline installation finalized as project nears completion

by
East Cobb Pipeline Project
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 water main construction work continues tonight

by
East Cobb Pipeline Project, Lower Roswell Road
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.Lower Roswell water main construction

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.

EAST COBB TOWN HALL MEETING: Commissioner Bob Ott talks budget, libraries, pipeline and more

by

Cobb commissioner Bob Ott

Just a few days after seeing the proposed fiscal year 2018 Cobb County budget for the first time, commissioner Bob Ott briefed East Cobb constituents on the numbers Thursday night and offered some suggestions that could punctuate budget discussions over the next few weeks.

At a packed town hall meeting in the community room of the East Cobb Library, Ott outlined the $890 million spending plan proposed by commission chairman Mike Boyce, including using $21.5 million in one-time reserve funding.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold the first of two public hearings on the budget on Tuesday before approval on Sept. 12. That’s not much time to absorb a proposed spending package that’s 3.79 percent higher than the FY 2017 budget, and only weeks after a heated battle over the property tax millage rate.

Cobb County Government proposed FY 2018 budget
Click the graphic to view and download the budget proposal. 

The budget document also was released this week [there’s a downloadable PDF here] as Cobb homeowners were mailed their property tax bills for 2017. As Ott reminded them, “the tax bill you just got is to pay for [the last fiscal] year.”

The proposed budget is based on the current millage rate established by commissioners last month. Ott and fellow East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell prevailed in their refusal to raise the millage rate by 0.13, as Boyce had wanted.

The inclusion of the proposed reserve funding to help balance the budget is a dramatic one. A total of $10.4 million would come from the reserve for a county employees pay and classification implementation study; $5.7 million would come from the Title Ad Valorem Tax Reserve; and the $5.3 million would come from the county economic development contingency.

“The board has to decide what are the critical needs,” Ott said. “The bottom line is, it’s your money.”

Specifically regarding the reserve money, Ott, an ardent opponent of tax increases, repeated himself: “It is my belief that it’s your money,” and that there’s “no reason” for it to remain unspent and raise taxes instead.

Read more

Lower Roswell resurfacing expansion, Willeo Creek bridge design approved by Cobb commissioners

by
Lower Roswell Road Water Main Project
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.