Spouts Springs Road in Flowery Branch Widening Plans Moved Up
Looks like the widening of Spout Springs Road in Flowery Branch, GA will be happening sooner than originally planned – as in, 2 YEARS sooner than planned!
According to an announcement today on HallCounty.org:
Officials move up timeline for Spout Springs Road Widening Project
Hall County officials are pleased to announce that construction for one of the most urgent transportation projects in the county, the widening of Spout Springs Road, will occur two years earlier than originally anticipated.
The news comes following a meeting this summer between Hall County Commission Chairman Richard Mecum, District 1 Commissioner Kathy Cooper, Rep. Emory Dunahoo and Hall County staff, who urged Georgia Department of Transportation officials to speed up the timeline on the much-needed road widening project.
“This project will relieve congestion, accommodate current and future travel demand, reduce crash frequency and severity and improve intersection operations to an acceptable level of service,” Commissioner Cooper said. “All of that can now be accomplished even sooner with GDOT’s agreement to move the right-of-way acquisition dollars to Fiscal Year 2017.”
Right-of-way procurement was originally scheduled to begin in Fiscal Year 2019.
“Hall County has a funding source dedicated to right-of-way acquisition through our Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), and Hall County’s scheduled SPLOST disbursement allows for the right-of-way acquisition to begin this fiscal year,” Chairman Mecum wrote in a letter to GDOT on June 9.
GDOT will fund construction for the project and has agreed to reimburse Hall County for what they spend to acquire right of way.
Right-of-way acquisition is expected from I-985 to Union Circle in FY17 and FY 18 with construction to begin in Fiscal Year 2019. Right-of-way acquisition and construction from that point to the project’s terminus south of Friendship Road is expected to follow shortly after during the next phase.
The environmental document and right of way plans for the entire project have already been approved.
As someone who lives right off of Spouts Springs Road near Flowery Branch High School, I can say that, yes, Spout Springs DOES need to be 2 lanes and I’ll be glad when this project is completed…. BUT, I sure dread what traffic and driving on or near Spout Springs Road will be like WHILE the construction is going on.
They recently added a new red light right at the Sterling on the Lake subdivision entrance – which MIGHT help things – but that sure let me know that this Spout Springs Road construction project was coming sooner than later.
Your thoughts?