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What's
happening to planning
for future at Gwinnett DOT?
By Jim Nelems
President
The Marketing Workshop
Special
to GwinnettForum.com
NORCROSS, NOV. 2, 2001 -- As our county grows, it
becomes harder and harder to plan for unexpected growth. New homes
and apartments are built in cornfields, without any advance knowledge
on the part of Gwinnett County. This part we can understand.
What is more difficult to understand is why the county fails to
take notice of specifically planned dated events that everyone knows
will take place on schedule? And some traffic and construction decisions
defy common sense!
For example, everyone knew for at least a year that the new Norcross
High School was going to open on August 13, 2001. One would think
that they would have dug up and repaved and widened the road BEFORE
SCHOOL STARTS, rather than waiting until a full month later, in
mid-September. In fact, they even did some partial construction
on July 5, and then waited over two months to finish it.
Their temporary solution on August 15 was to remove the orange
and white barrels that had been sitting on the road for two months,
so one could drive on the widened road, but then wait until mid-September
to repave and restripe the road, officially adding the extra lanes.
It is also unclear as to why Spalding Drive, the road in front
of the school, going north towards Medlock Bridge, starts with an
extra lane and then narrows to one, and then opens back up to two
lanes when you get to the traffic light. Earlier I had heard some
comment about the road not being able to have two lanes the full
distance because of the Clean Air Act, which is pretty ridiculous.
What would the U.S. government do if the lane had been added for
another 300 feet? Make us dig up the road and put the dirt back?
And just look at Peachtree Corners Circle going east from the Fowler
YMCA to Georgia 141. There is a middle lane most of the way, and
then for about 300 feet the middle lane stops and then opens up
again. Obviously anyone who designed this road has never been stuck
in traffic on the road at 5:30 pm on a weekday. The county had enough
money and land to put a doublewide sidewalk, but not enough intelligence
to think that eliminating a portion of the middle lane would not
cause any problems.
And what about Medlock Bridge going east just before Peachtree
Industrial? With the new commercial and residential buildings, the
eastern road is almost, but not quite, two lanes. Simply paving
another 100 feet would open this whole road up and keep in backing
up past the Presbyterian Church.
What would it take to have someone with enough courage to do what
is right, rather than following the book (if that, indeed, is what
they are doing) so that traffic could really move in this county?
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