Hall County is working on plans to improve the intersection that leads into Mt. Vernon Elementary School in the north end of the county.
Discussion took place at Monday's Hall County School Board meeting about what the Hall County Department of Public Works plans to do at the intersection of Jim Hood Road and Odum Smallwood Road.
The county wants to create turning lanes for every entrance to the school, as well as deceleration lanes. They also plan to decrease the sharp angle at which Jim Hood turns off into Odum Smallwood. The plan is to create more of a right angle intersection equipped with turn lanes. Another concern is the lack of a shoulder along the roadways.
The Department of Public Works reached out to the School Board to ask if they would donate some of the land for the school for this project to move forward since the roads would need to be widened.
Hall County Superintendent Will Schofield called this proposal a 'win-win' for both the county and the school as this would make a well traversed intersection much safer especially with small children around.
Nate Morris, Chairman of the Hall County School Board, knows the area well and has been out to observe traffic at the intersection before.
"I've battled traffic here," Morris said. "(This project) helps."
The School Board has tried other methods to improve traffic flow including adding another parking lot that empties out onto Jim Hood Road, but nothing has seemed to help.
The hope is that with the help of the county, this intersection will no longer be deemed unsafe.
