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Houston Road project sparks intense debate
By Jennifer Plunkett
The Macon Telegraph
From the redesign of intown Macon intersections to the proposed widening of Wesleyan Drive, residents have cornered elected and appointed officials about the justification for projects in the $300 million Macon-Bibb County Road Improvement Program.
But no projects to date have mustered more public response than the ones planned for the Houston Road area in south Bibb County.
Some residents want a wider Houston Road. Others have joined resident Douglas Hayes to develop what he calls a sensible alternative to the road program's plans for that area.
| HOUSTON ROAD COMPARISON | |
| The road program plans: Houston Road be widened to four lanes from Ga. 247 to Sardis Church Road with a paved median for access to intersections and driveways. Resurfacing Hartley Bridge Road Installing traffic signals at Skipperton Road and at School Road. Installing sidewalks near Porter Elementary School on School Road. A massive redesign of the Hartley Bridge Road interstate exit that will be completed by the state Department of Transportation. The bridge will be widened to four lanes to accommodate the growing commercial area around the exit and the Bibb County middle and high schools to be built there. Two new bridges will be constructed allowing easier access to the exit from southbound I-75 and to I-475 from the northbound exit ramp. The entire project is slated to cost nearly $10 million. Construction of a new interchange at Sardis Church Road to extend the road to Ga. 247. The extension, known as the Walden Road or Gap project, was added as a condition of the Federal Highway Administration, said Moreland Altobelli engineer Joe Johnson. In order to justify the new exit, FHA required the road be connected to a main thoroughfare, he said. | The residents propose: Adding a turn lane at intersections on Houston Road. Extending Hartley Bridge Road to Ga. 247. Constructing a two- to three-lane South Industrial Connector to replace the planned Sardis Church Road interchange. The connector would be located south of Sardis Church and eventually line up with Avondale Mill Road. Widening U.S. 41/Ga. 49 from two lanes to four lanes from Ga. 247 to south of the Industrial Connector. Constructing a north-south frontage road on the east side of I-75. Source: Moreland Altobelli Associates Inc. and Douglas Hayes. Compiled by Jennifer Plunkett. |
"We have something to substantiate what we propose," said Hayes, an architect in Houston County who has lived in south Bibb for 49 years. "We probably know traffic patterns better than anybody. We've actually talked to people in the community. We've done as much as we know how to do. And we're not quitting now."
The Houston Road project is one of 67 projects included in the city and county's first-ever road improvement program. Controversy entangled the program throughout last year, with residents demanding that plans for their roads be more responsive to their requests. Opponents formed the group CAUTION-Macon to act as watchdogs of officials guiding the program and to be a vehicle for public input.
Officials thus far have hired Orlando, Fla.-road designer Walter Kulash to review several projects, allowed public comments at road program meetings and delayed certain projects to conduct additional design studies.
Two plans
In the Houston Road area, the three main points of contention between the residents and program officials are the width of Houston Road, the location of a new I-75 interchange in south Bibb County and stormwater drainage improvements to the area.
Residents want Houston Road to remain two lanes with turn lanes added at intersections. County Engineer Bob Fountain says traffic counts warrant a five-lane Houston Road. Fountain is the chairman of the road program's Technical Advisory Committee.
The road program plans to construct a new exit at Sardis Church Road to alleviate traffic congestion on Hartley Bridge Road, and officials say projected residential and commercial growth call for the interchange to be built. Residents propose an interchange be built a few miles south of Sardis Church Road to be named the South Industrial Connector. They say it would serve as a thoroughfare for commercial and industrial traffic in need of access to the airport in south Bibb. Officials said they are using projected traffic needs for the year 2025 to determine what kind of improvements would be needed in that area. Residents used the comprehensive plan for the year 2015 from the Macon Area Transportation Study - the information used by officials in 1994 when determining what roads to include in the road program.
The drainage system will be given serious consideration as the project moves forward, Fountain said. The program has hired the local engineering firm Tribble & Richardson to study the drainage.
But residents, some of whose homes and property were flooded in 1994, want more than a verbal reassurance. Meggs and Varnadore have pending lawsuits against Bibb County for flooding they experienced in 1994.
"In my mind, this [five-lane road] would add substantially to the drainage in this area with the addition of nine acres of impervious land," Hayes told program officials in November.
Two additional detention ponds are included in the plans for the Houston Road area. Each road improvement has accompanying drain pipes. Hayes and others say they are concerned the lone 42-inch pipe that drains the entire sub-south area will be compromised by the amount of pavement replacing soil from the area's projects.
Hayes said using their alternative would protect Houston Road's central historic core and would push traffic off Houston Road and onto roads to the east and west of the residential area: I-75, Ga. 247 and U.S. 41.
They've presented the plan to the executive and technical advisory committees as well as to members of the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, but have not received a response. Fountain assigned Kulash to review the Houston Road project, but Kulash has not yet issued a recommendation.
"If [the road program's plan] comes through, we'll be divided again," Meggs said. "There'll be no community in the end."
The response
After Hayes' proposal, Fountain ordered new traffic counts be taken on Houston Road to make sure any designs would meet the area's needs.
After hearing a presentation on the new counts at the most recent technical advisory committee, Fountain said he will stick by the road program's plans.
"This reaffirms our original position," Fountain said at the meeting, adding that he will send a letter to the executive committee recommending the program's plans remain intact.
"The original plan calls for five lanes, and that stands."
Yet the documents handed out at the meeting by the traffic engineer from Atlanta-based company Post Buckley did not include any counts taken in 1998, and Fountain said he never saw new traffic counts from Jim Evans, the Post Buckley engineer hired to conduct the traffic study.
And Fountain's publicly announced support of the program's original plan came before Walter Kulash presented his review of the designs - something Fountain had been ordered to do by Bibb County Commissioner Joe Allen. Allen chairs the county's committee on engineering and public works.
Kulash's recommendation will only be used to "soften the impact, not determine the traffic capacity" of Houston Road, Fountain said.
"We have to go with who we've hired, and we hired the best in the Southeast to determine traffic capacity," he said. "Mr. Kulash is a traffic softener. Isn't he?"
Allen said Fountain's opinion will not determine what happens on Houston Road. "I don't care what Mr. Fountain says," Allen said. "The board of commissioners has a say so in what happens. We've given an order to Mr. Fountain to have Mr. Kulash review this project. It's not going anywhere until Mr. Kulash tells us what he's got. I'll hold it up. All the bills get paid through my committee."
Allen said he will get an update from Kulash on Monday and from program officials on Tuesday during his committee meeting. The contract for the Houston Road project is scheduled to be awarded in February.
Hayes and his neighbors said if they do not get the kind of response from Fountain or Executive Committee Chairman Larry Justice, they will work more closely with state and federal officials who have tighter control of the program's purse strings.
"This may be an emotional issue to many people, but emotions do not make the final decision," Hayes said. "To carry this through to the end, we need to do homework to find out what is good, what is right."
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The Macon Telegraph and may not be republished without permission. Contact Us.