Frustrated Sandy Springs residents on Wednesday night vented their displeasure to state and local officials over two major road projects they say have created safety hazards. Concern centered around road widening and realignment work on Johnson Ferry and Abernathy roads and nearby feeder streets.
Members of the Wyndham Hills Neighborhood Association, a coalition of 273 homeowners, objected to a part of the project that elevated a portion of Brandon Mill Road just off of Abernathy. The raised roadway, residents said, has created a hill so steep motorists have no view of oncoming southbound traffic when they turn left into their neighborhood.
"The Georgia DOT poured the asphalt so high on Brandon Mill that you don't have any line of sight until you practically pass the River Springs Drive entrance into the neighborhood," Wyndham Hill resident Lynn Watson said. "You know you've got to turn left, and you're praying, ‘God, I hope there's not another car flying south on Brandon Mill or I'll be creamed.'"
Watson, who served on the citizens advisory panel for the road projects, said plans never called for elevating Brandon Mill Road.
Georgia DOT district engineer Bryant Poole told the crowd of more than 200 people gathered at City Hall that the surface was raised two feet to accommodate its new approach to Abernathy. In response to residents' concerns, he said, crews have added a left-turn lane on northbound Brandon Mill for motorists entering the neighborhood. They also installed a stop sign atop the hill to keep southbound traffic in check, but Watson said many cars ignore it.
Josh Marks, another Wyndham Hills resident, said he's worried for himself, his wife and children.
"What makes it even more frustrating is that the Georgia DOT changed its plan with respect to how it was handling the intersection, and now they are blaming the drivers for the hazards they created," he said.
Construction on nearby Johnson Ferry Road was also called into question. The construction area just east of the Cobb County line was the site of two fatality wrecks last December that occurred less than a week and a few hundred feet apart. Sandy Springs police blame the deaths on excessive speed through the 1.4-mile construction zone between Abernathy Road and Riverside Drive.
Residents also spoke on behalf of keeping a four-way stop at Johnson Ferry and Bonnie Lane because it calms traffic on Johnson Ferry and allows residential traffic to enter the thoroughfare. City officials said they are considering installing a roundabout at the intersection.
The roadwork has a completion date of December 2012.
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