This entry was posted on 2/15/2008 8:06 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
This week, the Georgia DOT had read my blog on the 2008 Official Georgia Highway Map and contacted me regarding my comments. This part is what apparently got their attention...
- In Chattooga County, US 27/GA 1 is still shown as a divided highway from Gore-Subligna Road to a point just between there and Summerville. To give you an idea, if you look on the map just north of the dot for the Tidings community on 27, and then just 2-4 millimeters above it, you will see where a scenic byway intersects it. At that point, the highway has narrowed down to 2 lanes. Since US 27/GA 1 is a GRIP corridor, there are plans to widen the road, but for now, it is still 2 lanes from Gore-Subligna Road to Summerville.
- In Augusta-Richmond County, I-520 is still shown as a red limited access route (instead of green) from Exit 10 and dead-ending at the banks of the Savannah River. For the last few years, I-520 has been extended into South Carolina (where it becomes the Palmetto Parkway) and currently dead-ends at US 1/78 in Aiken County.
One other thing that has been on the map for several years was that GA 5/515 (Zell Miller Mountain Parkway) from I-575 to where US 76/GA 2 joins it in Ellijay is colored red instead of black. When Georgia colored all non-limited-access primary highway corridors in red (regardless of route type), that was okay, but since Georgia has gone back to denoting US routes in red and State routes in black, this section needs to be changed back to a black color.
I had a very pleasant phone conversation with Ms. Kiisa Wiegand of GDOT's
Office of Transportation Data, the division responsible for producing and maintaining the state's official roadmap. Ms. Wiegand was quite appreciative of my comments and assured me that GDOT will research them accordingly and provide me with their findings "within the next week or two". Once I receive their findings, I will be happy to share them with you in a future blog.
In other Georgia road news, GDOT is getting ready to install more overhead gantries on the newly-widened portion of US 19/GA 400 in North Fulton and South Forsyth Counties. At the Haynes Bridge Road exit (Exit 9), the gantry materials and the new signs are sitting there waiting for installation at points between Exit 9 and McFarland Parkway (Exits 12A-B northbound).
The contractor has torn up parts of the new Jersey barriers to install the mounting bolts for the gantries at these particular points. As to when they will be completed, I don't know, but I'll keep y'all posted.
Speaking of overhead gantries, there have been 2 incomplete gantries between Exits 11 and 12A for several months. The poles have been installed, but the scaffolding and signs have not been erected. In fact, at Exit 12A, there is a scaffolding with a sign that says "Exit 12/McFarland Rd/Alpharetta". I hope that this sign does not get mounted, but will receive separate signs for the A and B exits. If I were to word them, they would be as follows...
Exit 12A/McFarland Parkway East/To McGinnis Ferry Road
Exit 12B/To GA 9/McFarland Parkway WestI still believe that the new cities of Johns Creek and Milton should be signed from 400. Here's how I would do it...
Northbound: Exit 10/GA 120/Alpharetta/Johns Creek (with separate sign saying "Old Milton Pkwy/Exit 10")
Northbound: Exit 11/Windward Parkway/Milton
Southbound: Exit 13/GA 141/Johns Creek/Norcross
Southbound: Exit 12/McFarland Pkwy/Milton and/or Exit 11/Windward Pkwy/MiltonWhile we are at it, why are there still southbound overhead signs on 400 for Exit 11
without the GA 120 shield in them? To see for yourself,
please click here for photo 1 and
here for photo 2. Both photos were taken in January, 2007, and the signs have been there since. If this is a contractor goof-up, then I say that the contractor should be made to replace them at their own expense just as they did with the faulty Jersey barriers.
And finally, my blog regarding the lastest news on the
US 411 Connector has made the
latest edition of the Georgia Carnival, a "potpourri" of various and sundry blogs from Georgia bloggers. Thanks to the blogmaster of "
Georgia On My Mind" and "
History Is Elementary" for including it in the latest carnival and for her kind words regarding my blog.
That's it for now. Thanks always for reading and please come back often.
