Friday March 29th, 2024 2:49AM

New idea gives hope to avoiding traffic troubles facing Martin Road

FLOWERY BRANCH – A glimmer of hope appeared and momentarily silenced the crowded room Wednesday evening at the second Martin Road Corridor Study Stakeholder Committee meeting.  Could all parties be made happy after nearly a year of hand-wringing and frustration?

Could this unexpected, last minute idea really work?  Only time will tell, but for the moment the contentious issue that has kept community leaders busy for nearly twelve months appeared to have a solution with which both county leaders and area residents could live.

Roughly a year ago residents along the Martin Road corridor were informed about the Georgia Department of Transportation’s plan to construct a new exit on I-985.  The Exit 14 project soon became the topic of heated debate.

Traffic exiting at the new interchange would be funneled onto winding two-lane Martin Road.  Neighbors united in opposition to that idea.

Then there was the unfunded mandate placed upon Hall County for handling the increased traffic volume once it exited I-985 and eventually providing connectivity to Winder Highway.  Early cost estimates for that undertaking exceeded $45 million.  The Hall County Commission did not like that possibility.

So the strategy became stopping the construction of the exit before it started, but that effort proved unsuccessful.

Despite pages of signed petitions, despite pleas from members of the Hall County Commission, despite requests from members of the state legislature, construction of Exit 14 was going to happen sooner than later according to GDOT.

“Exit 14 is a done deal,” Sam Baker, Transportation Manager for the Gainesville-Hall County Metropolitan Planning Organization.  “We are here tonight to talk about Martin Road only.”

Prior to Wednesday’s meeting the GHMPO sent out a press release with five concepts for how the county would handle the traffic once it became their responsibility.  The concepts were based upon a survey circulated to stakeholders following the first Martin Road Corridor Study Stakeholder Committee meeting in November.

Darlene Long heads the Martin Road stakeholders group in their effort to keep traffic off Martin Road.  She said she wasn’t sure which of the five conceptual plans the GHMPO had submitted would prove most popular.  She said all five had big negatives but she was asking members to vote and submit a ballot ranking the five options in the order they preferred.

Then the unexpected happened: a sixth option for handling the traffic became available. 

Flowery Branch Mayor Mike Miller is one of the six members of the GHMPO and credited with the idea.  It was presented late last week at a meeting of the GHMPO and “added” to the list of possible traffic-handling options.

Neither the media nor the Martin Road Stakeholders Committee was told before the meeting about the additional option. 

Miller was asked by Hall County Planning Director Srikanth Yamala to explain the new idea to the roughly 125 people in the room.

In a nutshell, the widening of Martin Road to Winder Highway (and its estimated $45 million price tag) would be removed by Hall County as a project under consideration, and all traffic using exit 14 would be forced to turn either right or left onto Atlanta Highway.  No traffic would be allowed to use Martin Road (a county road).

Since Atlanta Highway is a state route (SR 13) it would then become the financial responsibility of the state to pay for the improvements needed to accommodate the increase in traffic caused by exit 14, saving Hall County over $40 million.

Miller said it would cost Hall County about $3 million to improve and widen short sections of Atlanta Highway and Martin Road at their intersection and to install the needed signage directing all traffic to turn onto Atlanta Highway.

(To hear Mayor Miller explain the concept to those in attendance, select the audio link connected to this story.)

Because of the last minute addition of Miller’s idea, the ballot given to the attendees only had five spots for ranking concepts; Long told voters in the room to write “Concept 6” on the reverse side of the ballot if they liked the new idea.

The bowl containing the submitted ballots quickly began to fill with ballots stating their preference for the new concept, number six. 

While the votes would be tallied at a later time it was evident by the buzz in the room that Option 6 was well received. 

Maybe, just maybe, an acceptable way to handle the traffic generated by exit 14 has been found.  Again, only time will tell.

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