Work is complete on safety improvements at the intersection of Ga. 365 and Mount Zion Road in Habersham County, where five people died in a July two-vehicle wreck.
The Georgia Department of Transportation said Thursday that construction of a new restricted U-Turn at the intersection was completed by the end of October. The restricted U-Turn, also referred to as an RCUT, only allows right turns coming from any direction into the intersection. Drivers are now unable to directly cross Ga. 365 from Mount Zion Road. A U-Turn must be made to reach the other side of the intersection.
An inspection is planned for Wednesday which will mark the completion of the project. GDOT said the project aims to alleviate the number of crashes that have occurred at the intersection in recent years.
The project quickly got underway in September after Vertical Earth LLC was awarded a quick response contract.
This followed a July 16 two-vehicle wreck at the intersection which resulted in the deaths of five people, including two children.
The Georgia State Patrol previously told AccessWDUN that a 2023 Chevrolet Corvette was driving southbound on the road as a 2015 Ford Explorer was attempting to cross the southbound lanes of the roadway. The Ford Explorer traveled in front of the Corvette, causing the Corvette to strike the Explorer on its passenger side.
All five people involved in the crash died as a result. Avonlea Holtzclaw, 29, of Dahlonega, was driving the Explorer with her 5- and 6-year-old children as passengers. Holtzclaw and her children were the wife and kids of Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Patrick Neil Holtzclaw.
The occupants of the Corvette included Mitchell Boggs, 58, of Marietta, and Seyhan Kilincci, of Roswell. Kilincci was reportedly the founder of Project EG, LLC, a Metro Atlanta-based automotive club.
The Georgia State Patrol previously said they were working to determine whether Boggs or Kilincci was driving the Corvette at the time of the accident. That information had still not been released as of November.
Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell previously claimed the Corvette was traveling "in excess of 150 miles per hour" at the time of the collision. The Habersham County Sheriff's Office is not the investigating agency, and the GSP has been unable to corroborate that claim.
