Politics & Government

City Approves Accepting Grant Money for Better Signalization

The Roswell City Council voted to accept State Road and Tollway Authority funds to streamline traffic signals along Holcomb Bridge Road and State Route 92.

The Roswell City Council unanimously approved a measure at its meeting last night which will hopefully improve your drive time by 2014.

The city’s transportation department was given the go-ahead to accept Georgia Department of Transportation grant money for Advanced Traffic Management Systems projects along Holcomb Bridge Road, all the way down State Route 92. The projects canvas Roswell’s entire east-to-west corridor, from Gwinnett County to Cobb County.

“We’re hoping this will help the signalization to be much more streamlined,” said Councilman Rich Dippolito, who serves as liaison to the city’s transportation department.

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In total, the $1.25 million price tag will help outfit the roadway with traffic monitoring devices, adaptive traffic control systems and travel time stations. The new systems would allow the city to better coordinate signals along the roadway through real-time data.

The lack of pre-determined or timed signals would, in effect, be like a live person operating each individual light, said the city’s Traffic Operations Division Manager, Muhammad Rauf.

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The city will be responsible for 20 percent of the total cost, or $250,000. The rest of the money is funded by the State Road and Tollway Authority and specifically designated for projects, such as this, which can potentially improve accessibility and mobility along Ga. 400.

The projects mimic a similar effort already underway along Highway 9, in partnership with the cities of Sandy Springs and Alpharetta.

While the projects are expected to improve traffic flow throughout the city, it won’t be a “magic bullet,” said department staff. Still, the drive time is expected to improve considerably.

“We’re estimating a 20 to 30 percent savings in travel time,” said Rauf.

Impressed with the figure, Mayor Jere Wood told Rauf if his department succeeds in the reduced travel time, Rauf would be a hero.

While the project is already in design, Rauf doesn’t expect to commence installation until June of 2013. Implementation should take between 12 and 18 months, which means citizens won’t benefit from the new systems until at least mid-2014.

In other council news:

The city will move forward on both  during the meeting last night. The projects will help improve sidewalk access and pedestrian mobility at Roswell's MARTA bus stops.

In a last minute addition, the council voted to approved splitting the $56,000 cost of a traffic study with the North Fulton Community Improvement District, which will vote on its portion today. The study will help determine whether or not a potential grid system or alignment concept between Warsaw Road, Old Ellis Road and Sun Valley Drive would help alleviate current traffic on Mansell Roads and Highway 9. If approved by the North Fulton CID today, the study would hopefully be available within three or four months, said Transportation Director Steve Acenbrak.


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