The Sandy Springs City Council authorized buying $2.3 million in environmental stream mitigation credits it needs to start a widening project on Hammond Drive.
Public Works Director Marty Martin told the council on Sept. 16 that the credits will offset the impact the project will have on 900 feet of stream channel. The project will enclose streams that flow down to Hammond Drive within a pipe or concrete box culvert. Transportation sales tax revenues will fund the project.
Under the Clean Water Act, the city must buy credits if a project disturbs more than 100 feet of stream channel. Martin said that the city will buy them from the Soque River Mitigation Bank in Habersham County, GA.
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Mayor Rusty Paul said during his 2025 State of the City address that the project to widen Hammond Drive between Boylston Drive and Glenridge Road will begin construction after the completion of the Mount Vernon Highway-Johnson Ferry Road project east of Roswell Road, which is expected by April 2026.
The city’s website said that the project will add multi-use paths along both sides of Hammond Drive. It will include dedicated pedestrian crosswalks and an underpass at Kayron Drive.
