New school traffic plan in the works

The group photo taken in the middle of Pine Tree Way last Friday morning will most likely not be possible this time next year.
Nowadays the end of the downtown Dahlonega roadway is sleepy and seldom travelled.
But all that will change with the opening of the new Lumpkin County Elementary School next year and then the long awaited county pool facility opening a few years later.
That’s why local officials are attempting to plan for the traffic jams now before they occur.
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” said county planning director Larry Reiter. “It’s trying to make traffic flow better and increase the capacity of traffic so we reduce the amount of inconvenience that's currently happening and would only get worse if we didn’t do some improvements here.”
Those intended improvements will include a widening of Pine Tree Way and the addition of a turn lane which will run across Morrison Moore Parkway onto Memorial Drive.
The Georgia Department of Transportation will begin to help cover some those expenses as local representative and officials were on hand last week for the donation of $500,000 ceremonial check addressed to “Lumpkin County Citizens.”

TACKLING TRAFFIC

Senator Steve Gooch noted that this is a rare donation since the DOT doesn’t always make these kinds of contributions to locally maintained roads.
“One thing that’s important to notice that this is not a state route,” he said. “We’re standing on a city street, so it’s not common for DOT to put this type of money into local improvement.”
GDOT District Engineer Kelvin Mullins said the fact that the improvements were needed for a school project gave it the extra nudge they needed.
“The thing for us is the school,” he said. “We don’t do this on just any county road. But if it’s for the community or economic development that’s where we like to help.”
The intersection overhaul will also include curb, gutters, sidewalks and a traffic signal upgrade.
Chairman Chris Dockery said he’s hoping the new school site could help alleviate the regular parent pick-up traffic jams on North Grove Street since most congestion is where the elementary school and middle school carpool lanes meet.
“The congestion you see up there is going to be distributed there and here,” he said. “… So if you disperse a lot of traffic it could be a good thing. You’re taking some congestion and moving it here.”
Meanwhile, Special Projects Manager Charles Trammell said the firm number on the project will not be available until it’s put out for bid. But he added that the sum contributed by the DOT is a good start.
“We want to emphasize the cooperation of the DOT, the county, the city and the school system,” he said. “We’ve all worked to make this project happen. It’s a partnership. We could have never done it without DOT.”