Some Buckhead residents want the Georgia Department of Transportation to rethink its schedule for two large road projects because one project will affect the detour around another.
GDOT officials visited the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods on June 14 and said there are plans to keep traffic moving as crews repair the roads.
“We think we will be able to handle the traffic and the traffic control issues that we have,” GDOT District Engineer Rachel Brown said.
One of the projects, replacing part of an old bridge near the Amtrak station, is considered an emergency. The other project, making multiple improvements to Northside Drive, has been discussed for 12 years. The transportation officials said it was unlikely they’d delay the projects when they have money to pay for both.
Ron Grunwald, with the Loring Heights Neighborhood Association, thinks the overlapping projects will undermine the compromise residents made with the city and GDOT to keep detoured traffic out of neighborhoods. He said he’s talked to residents of other neighborhoods and spoke with Piedmont Hospital officials about how it will affect emergency traffic.
Grunwald said he hasn’t been able to persuade GDOT officials to delay the closure of Deering Road until Northside Drive is completed.
“It’s going to be a nightmare for six to 12 months at least,” Grunwald said. “That’s where we are today.”
DOT plans to close Deering Road where it connects to Peachtree adjacent to the train station so a contractor can repair the parking deck, which is actually an old part of the Peachtree Road Bridge crossing I-85. (The structure of the Peachtree Road Bridge is sound.)
Brown told BCN members work should start after July 4. Atlanta Public Works and neighborhood officials agreed on a detour that would keep traffic out of the residential areas. The detour route includes Collier Road and Northside Drive – but GDOT plans to improve that corridor as well.
Brown said work on the massive Northside Drive project could begin in August. The project consists of $12.5 million worth of roadway and water line improvements at the I-75 and Northside Drive intersection and will affect 2.4 miles of roadway. The road will be resurfaced and the water main will be expanded. Some aspects of the project are designed to improve the intersection of Northside Drive and Collier Road.
In addition to asking for the delay, the Grunwald has asked that GDOT coordinate the 17th Street traffic signals to better control traffic through Atlantic Station before the detour around the Amtrak station project is in place.
City of Atlanta Department of Public Works Commissioner Richard Mendoza said the department will monitor and adjust signal times and detour signs to make sure traffic is flowing properly.
Brown said contractors will keep lanes open in both directions for the duration of the Northside Drive project with the exception of two weekends. She said she understands the projects will be an inconvenience. GDOT’s goal is to complete them as soon as possible.
“We want to get the projects done and get out of your life,” Brown said.
Grunwald and other BCN members believe the state has the ability to delay one of the two projects without losing money to pay for them.
“There is no good explanation being given as to why they are scheduled at the same time,” he said.
Grunwald said he plans to meet with GDOT and city of Atlanta officials on June 20 to ask more questions about the projects.
