Detours around a closed portion of Lake Forrest Drive could be in place for months, according to an email obtained by the Sandy Springs Reporter.

On June 7, the city announced that recent heavy rains had forced the closure of the portion of Lake Forrest between Lake Summit and Chevaux Court. The city anticipated the closure would be in effect through June 14, at a minimum.

The email exchange indicates the closure will be longer than city officials first thought.

City Councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny forwarded her email exchange with Assistant City Manager Bryant Poole to The Reporter.

McEnerny sent Poole an email asking him about the timetable for reopening Lake Forrest.

Poole replied that the prognosis is not good.

“Our consultant who is evaluating the conditions and preparing recommendations of how to resolve it, should be giving us their initial analysis by the end of this week,” Poole said in the June 12 email to McEnerny. “At this time, it is projected that the detours will be in place for many months.”

Here is the full email exchange:

From: McEnerny, Karen
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:14 AM
To: Poole, Bryant
Cc: McDonough, John; Coleman, Garrin; DeSimone, Ken; Eskew, Bo
Subject: RE: Stewart Drive Traffic Detour

Any idea when the roadway will be reopened?   If it’s a  month or more  can a temporary traffic light be installed at Roswell Road ?  (These are just my ideas..  not coming from the stewart folks but at this time they are expecting the road to be opened June 14. )    If it’s a long term closure, and we cannot get a traffic light  we probably need to  have officers stationed at Stewart and Roswell   (maryeanna and Roswell?) during peak hours to allow the turns..     safely.     Lake Forrest takes a ton of traffic   as you know…

So I appreciate  you keeping me updated on the issues with 1)  the slope; 2) the timeline of the closure and 3) the best way to address detours if the road closure  is a more long term problem.   My best   k

Karen Meinzen McEnerny

City Council, District 6

City of Sandy Springs

4604 Meadow Valley Drive

Sandy Springs, Georgia 30342-2515

From: Poole, Bryant
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 11:26 AM
To: McEnerny, Karen
Cc: McDonough, John; Coleman, Garrin; DeSimone, Ken; Eskew, Bo
Subject: RE: Stewart Drive Traffic Detour

Councilwoman McEnerny,

Your thoughts and recommendations are appreciated, as well as your support of the staff related to this matter.

Until we have an understanding of the magnitude of the problem, suggested solutions, and then funding sources, I cannot give anyone definitive answers at this time.  Our consultant who is evaluating the conditions and preparing recommendations of how to resolve it, should be giving us their initial analysis by the end of this week.  At this time, it is projected that the detours will be in place for many months.  Once we have more definitive resolutions, we can make adjustments to the detours as needed to prevail long term versus our interim detours.  We will make enhancements as we can to the current detours based on feedback, if at all possible.

Just FYI, yesterday I drove the detours around 1pm. Here are my observations:

On Stewart Dr. at 1:05pm I was the 8th car in line.  Of the 7 cars in front of me, one turned left, and one car waited for traffic to clear in all directions of Roswell Rd. so they could drive diagonally across to get onto Green Hill Rd. (we waited the longest because of this person doing this maneuver instead of getting into the median turn lane), all other cars turned right.  My total time in line to turn left took me 2 minutes and 35 seconds. Last Friday morning at 8am, it took me 2 minutes with 6 cars in line.  By the time I could return to Stewart Dr. 15 minutes later, there were no cars in line.  There were no lines of traffic on Maryeanna Dr. at approximately 1:25pm.

As we know more, I or a member of staff will keep you posted (I will be on vacation next week and not accessible to the internet).  Please feel free to forward citizen concerns to me.  We are working on a common message to handle the routine inquiries that we are getting related to this situation.

Thanks,

Bryant Poole

Assistant City Manager

City of Sandy Springs

7840 Roswell Rd., Building 500

Sandy Springs, Georgia  30350

From: McEnerny, Karen
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2013 10:05 AM

Neighborhood leadership…..

Please see update from our Assistant City Manager Bryant Poole  to our concerns on the  stability of the Lake Forrest Drive  slope, the detour;  safety of our residents and timeline of corrective measures…..    Our staff is keeping safety first  and will continue to do so .   I  hope you’ll share this with your neighbors  and share any upcoming concerns .  This has been an issue just waiting to happen …..for over a hundred years!!    (the road was in existence in the early 1900;s and was paved in 1953).   But  we are dealing with it and will do so   as expeditiously and safely as possible.    (Funding repairs is not an issue as we have  contingency funds in place  for emergencies as this.  )

My best…

Karen Meinzen McEnerny

City Council, District 6

City of Sandy Springs

4604 Meadow Valley Drive

Sandy Springs, Georgia 30342-2515

Dan Whisenhunt

Dan Whisenhunt wrote for Reporter Newspapers from 2011 - 2014. He is the founder and editor of Decaturish.com