This week, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there was another article on the ramp meters installed along US 19/GA 400 in North Fulton County. Please click here to read it.

The issue, according to the Georgia DOT (GDOT), has been that the ramp meter lights cannot be controlled from their Transporation Management Center (TMC) until the fiber optic cables along the shoulders have been repaired.

During the process of hardening the shoulders to accomodate bus traffic, the contractor had damaged the fiber optic cables that would link the lights to the GDOT TMC. Last cost estimate I had heard was $1,000,000.

I don't know if GDOT has done so, but if I were running GDOT, I'd be going after the contractor who messed up the cables instead of spending taxpayer dollars to fix this mess. After all, when contractors cut utility lines (power, phone, cable TV, and natural gas), they are required to pay the repair bill to the affected utility companies. Why should highway contractors be treated different... especially when and where our tax money is involved?

BTW, GDOT did update their ramp meter webpage to reflect the current status of GA 400's meters.

And finally, a few "shoutouts" to the following folks...

Stuart Lodge, a "railfan" friend of mine, just passed his amateur (ham) radio Technician class test and received his callsign just this week. Congrats, Stu, and hope you and your wife enjoy your new home in North Carolina.

John Krakoff, the major contributor to my Georgia County Route Sign Gallery, is alive and well in his new home in Albany, NY. I heard from him just the other day through the Facebook page I recently created. Good to hear from you, John, thanks again for all your contributions, and please keep in touch.

To YouTube user davidreynolds87 of Bristol, England... thanks for watching my videos and kudos to you on your "roadgeek videos" as well.

That's it for now. Thanks always for visting, reading, and watching, and please come back often.