The long-delayed start to the Lower Roswell Road traffic project could be pushed back further after Cobb DOT officials said Thursday they’ll be proposing a redesign for part of the project.
During a community meeting at the East Cobb Library organized by Commissioner Jerica Richardson, Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler said budget issues and public feedback have prompted a number of possible changes.
The $9 million project, first proposed more than a decade ago, would add turn lanes and enhance traffic flow along Lower Roswell between Woodlawn Drive and Davidson Road, and in particular at the intersection with Johnson Ferry Road.
The objective has been to improve safety in an area with a high number of crashes.
But Raessler said at a meeting attended by a few dozen citizens that all of the construction bidders came in over budget—the lowest bidder was $1.9 million over.
Lingering issues over access along a portion of the project also are being considered.
“We’re going to go back and do a small redesign to bring the scope to budget,” said Raessler, adding that he is planning to ask commissioners for funding for a redesign in November.
The main redesign changes would include removing a planned bike path and expanding a multi-use trail to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists.
The multi-use trail would be eight feet wide, but Raessler said the expansion could be “as wide as we can get it.”
Those changes have come about only in the last couple of weeks and are not yet reflected on the project’s fact sheet.
After commissioners approved the project’s conceptual plan last year, DOT had set a construction timetable to start this year and finish in 2023.
But Raessler and Karyn Matthews, a DOT transportation engineer who covers the East Cobb area, said the redesign work is expected to take 6-8 months. He estimated that the work could start in the first quarter of 2024 and be completed by early 2026.
Until recent months, little public opposition had been expressed. Most of the concerns came from business owners worried about traffic access that would be limited with a raised median on Lower Roswell between Davidson and Johnson Ferry.
Cobb DOT has proposed one left-turn lane in either direction, but that didn’t quell some of the citizens in attendance.
Some worried that traffic that now comes out of Parkaire Landing to turn left on Lower Roswell westbound would cause backlogs on Davidson Road with a median installed.
One citizen wondered if a roundabout could be built there, saying that “you’re trying to retrofit something and a lot of it is unsolvable.”
When he suggested that that portion of the project be put on hold, Raessler said safety concerns have to be addressed.
Between 2016-2018, Cobb DOT said 61 crashes were recorded along the project route, 49 of them between Johnson Ferry and Davidson, primarily due to more than a dozen curb cuts.
That doesn’t include crashes in the Johnson Ferry-Lower Roswell intersection.
“There is a safety problem there,” he said.
Raessler said the median would be landscaped to add to a “sense of place,” providing some greenery and reducing the amount of impervious surface.
Some have asked the county to ditch the project altogether, wondering about trail access for a project deemed necessary for safety reasons.
“We’re not a pedestrian culture, we’re not a biking culture,” a resident said. “This is laden with so many hangups.”
Another component of the project is a passive green space area at the southeast corner of Lower Roswell and Woodlawn, where the Frasier house once stood.
Matthews said Cobb Parks and Recreation will soon be requesting funding to begin design work.
Larry Savage, a former Cobb Commission Chairman candidate has been a critic of the project’s trails component, said after the meeting that doing a redesign is a good step.
“But there are still a lot of conflicting goals,” he said. “They want to make it safer but then they’re going to reduce the speed limit for pedestrians and cyclists and that’s going to affect traffic flow.”
Related:
- Electric vehicle charging stations installed at Parkaire Landing
- East Cobb resurfacing projects OK’d with 2022 SPLOST funds
- Lower Roswell Road project questioned as construction nears
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