Here are the Old Alabama Rd Construction Plans! This project was planned by GDOT in 2007, the city implemented temporary modifications to address congestion in the meantime, and those are now being made permanent.
The cost has doubled from $2 million to $4 million since it was first proposed.
The configuration going East on Old Alabama Rd (OAR) remains the same, other then an entrance into the Atlanta Athletic Club property and a sidewalk have been added.
Widening of Old Alabama Road at the intersection with 141 is what will allow for two left turn lanes onto Old Alabama from North 141.
A large raised median is planned to replace the plastic poles. Raised medians are good for cars driving high speeds. The greenery will beautify the area.
This additional lane will extend past the entrance of Perimeter Church through to Buice Road.
At Buice Road the plan calls for eliminating the existing right hand turn road onto Old Alabama and rejoining it with the left hand turn onto Old Alabama Road.
Old Alabama Rd Construction Plans
The traffic issues on OAR tend to be going East, not west.
The 'temporary' modifications on Old Alabama Road have worked well.
Are the cost and inconvenience of 13 months of construction still worthwhile?
What do you think?
Building a median instead of using the space for another lane for traffic is short-sighted. Spending money for a sidewalk on the south side of OAR is just plain stupid. Where will anyone be walking to on that side of the road? Another sidewalk to no where!
The only thing that will EVER remedy the volume of traffic this intersection handles is an overpass much like 141/Jimmy Carter, 141/Winter's Chapel. The same applies at State Bridge/141.
All this locomotion is to plant trees and install medians. It will NOT improve traffic.
BTW: Who is asking for a sidewalk in front of Atlanta Athletic Club?
I don't suppose road improvements can be selected based on the popular vote, but since you asked: While I support most road improvements done in and/or by JC, thus far, I think that most of the sidewalks are not cost effective, and as in the case of the new one on OAR, do much to destroy the rural nature of our city. I've seen more Johns Creek city trucks traversing or parked on the very wide sidewalks on Jones Br. Rd. than I've seen pedestrians and question the additional cost of the additional width.
I live off of Buice Road. The new sidewalk on OAR is a waste of money , who is going to use this sidewalk? A sidewalk on the other side of OAR and continue onto Buice seems more usable and should eventually connect to Greenways. WHY will this project take 13 months ? it is a small area of construction !! maybe because there are few workers onsite working. Traffic still backs up on OAR with 2 turn lights to Left onto medlock since the " improvements were made. The future 2 left turns onto OAR from medlock is not where congestion is happening , I do not go OAR after 4;30 towards medlock to take a left turn because traffic backs up ,
Why are sidewalks being added to the Atlanta athletic club side ? entrance ? Is something not being told to us about the future of this property?
It's seems like a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of inconvenience for a lot of people for a very marginal gain. After all this, these changes do not impact the fundamental problem of northbound left turns. I think the cost/pain/benefit analysis that was done in 2007 should have been re-evaluated in light of the 2015 reality. The cities "temporary" fix could last until a real plan was in place to more permanently address the area's traffic problems. Severe traffic problems do not need a 13 month "solution" that adds a sidewalk from/to nowhere and make it pretty.
I agree with all the comments above. A sidewalk in front of the country club is not needed. The only time anyone is walking in that area of Medlock is for the few festivals in the fields. As to construction around Perimeter Church-- making things LOOK NICE is not what JC needs to be wasting money on at this time the intersection at Old Alabama and Medlock functions as is unless you can move traffic more efficiently at States Bridge any modification at Old Alabama will be non consequential. As to the 2007 study-- it is out dated and needs to be thrown away. Only current projections should be used to design Medlock, and Statesbridge. The proposed designs are faulty and will make the Old Alabama intersection much worse when the States Bridge Medlock intersection is re-designed. The engineers need to look at driving patterns and not just volume.
Remember all these things when you go to the voting booth this November.
For years, I've driven through the intersection of Old Alabama and Medlock Bridge every weekday afternoon, and occasionally in the morning. I've seen all the attempts to alleviate congestion in this area, but the fact is that there's simply too much traffic in that relatively small area. I agree with others that a sidewalk by ACC is of little value. I also believe that another factor contributing to congestion is traffic at the nearby intersection of Medlock Bridge and State Bridge, which is statistically one of Georgia's busiest intersections. The key problem at OAR and Medlock Bridge is that much of the traffic there is eventually headed east on State Bridge/Pleasant Hill. Drivers have to turn left from OAR onto Medlock Bridge, then cross two lanes of traffic to turn right onto State Bridge, heading toward Pleasant Hill. This crossing of lanes appears to be what's really tying up the area. All that being said, I'll all for prettying it up, just would like to make sure that we don't create more of a mess!
I guess I am singing to the choir but I will weigh in. The proliferation of sidewalks is admirable, however wasteful. Nobody walks on 141 and very little pedestrians are seen walking along OAR, at any time. If you want a sidewalk, put it where it makes sense - Buice Rd, from OAR to Jones Bridge. People walk, runners run and bikers bike along Buice Rd. Also, two left turn lanes from 141 onto OAR seems overkill. Even in the worst traffic, the left lane that exists is rarely full of cars. Forget the turn lane - widen 141 for the good of all.
If you want to do something about JC traffic, stop permitting high density housing farther up 141.
Bodker loves sidewalks! Most of them are sidewalks leading to nowhere. FEW people actually use them. Expenditures made by the city should benefit the majority, not the 1%.
They are a WASTE of tax payor money, but then who has seen any indication that this city gov has a clue as to how to sensibly budget, let alone spend money wisely...
The left turn from OAR onto Medlock is inadequate
Fire the engineers and hire someone with common sense to design this project.
This intersection along with State Bridge/ 141 both need overpasses.
NO sidewalks!
This is stupid. A sidewalk to nowhere, money spent for no traffic improvement and constant congestion for the construction period which will extend well into the future. The Mayor and any council member who voted for this will never receive my future vote.
I agree with John Godwin and others. Bureaucracy @ it's best--Spend money wisely for the long run--
The biggest issue is the left turn from OAR onto Medlock Bridge. Widening OAB to Buice Road makes sense as long as the left onto Medlock is fixed. Efficiency not beautification is the issue and who is going to use the sidewalks in front of Atlanta Country Club? Chuck Strong
I agree with Russ Welch, fire the engineers and hire someone with a little common sense to design the project. Look into the future as to what the traffic is and will be!
Are you kidding!!! Fire the engineer and hire one with a little common dessert !!!!
How does this help eastbound traffic on Old Alabama?
Let me get this--we are going to spend $4 million and more to dump traffic from Old Alabama into a totally congested north bound rte 141--makes sense--to someone I am sure--
I believe their objective is to have two left turn lanes on 141 north to OAR. This will shorten the time needed for the left and get the Southbound traffic moving more quickly.
However, if you look at the diagram, this will mean that the Northbound left lane will now be where the right lane is and the right lane is going to be moved to the current shoulder.
More shoulders being lost and less dedicated bike lanes yet again. Johns Creek had made great strides becoming more cyclist friendly.
Those days are in the past.
There are no sidewalks on the Northbound shoulder, either, prior to Medlock Crossing..
So if you are a pedestrian, good luck. You are gonna need it.
Driving by the construction area at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon and seeing no one working is a testament to why this project will take months. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago was reroute for faster than 13 months. This project will alleviate none of the current traffic issues.
If you look closely at drawing 26-03 it appears that we are back to one left turn lane from OAR onto Medlock at the expense of a pretty median. Why are we backing up? The two left turn lanes we had were already backing up past Buice Road.
Bureaucracy at its finest. These plans do nothing of significance to address the overall traffic problem for the long run. Why do we need to spend money on sidewalks that will rarely be used and then a couple more bucks for beautification. This needs to be rethought, if possible, before we continue to throw good money after bad.
It would seem to me that your main objective would be to relieve TOTAL traffic congestion on Old Alabama & Medlock Roads. This so called solution does very little (especially given the steep price tag) to achieve that objective. Many of the reasons given prior to this post are spot on, but I really don't get the purpose of reducing the Old Alabama left turn lane onto Medlock Bridge. This will result in an even bigger issue than what exists today. Few of us are excited about a landscaped medium that results in more wasted time at the intersection. And as for the sidewalks... less than 1% of the population will use them. Makes absolutely no sense.
What does this do to improve traffic East bound on Old Alabama Road? Who needs more sidewalks especially when they are never used.
Please, steward our money wisely! Money spent to beautify an area involving a nightmare traffic situation and add a sidewalk that few would ever use seems ludicrous. 2007 studies are clearly obsolete! Eastbound traffic on OAR doesn't appear to have been considered in this plan and it needs to!
As much as I like beautification on our roads, this intersection is not the place for it; we absolutely need that space for traffic movement. It's not too late to change that plan!
I have never witnessed such incompetence in the execution of a construction project. The time and cost of this improvement testify to the poor decision making. Sometimes, there is no work done for two weeks. And the temporary modifications are horrible. Ask anyone eastbound on OAR after 4:00 pm or morning rush hour.