Title
Discussion of SR9/120 Pedestrian Crosswalk Options
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Action Required:
Guidance
Description:
The intersection at the Historic Square (State Routes 9 and 120) needs improvement to prevent further damage to the stone walls and to accommodate improved pedestrian access due to the recent completion of the steps leading to Barrington Hall.
As background, GDOT, under their Fast Forward program made changes to this intersection four years ago. They made several changes, including changes to the alignments of the lanes and the addition of a raised pedestrian refuge island. However, large trucks moving southbound on SR 9 turning right onto SR 120 routinely hit the wall along the square in order to avoid the raised island and the pedestrian pole in the refuge island. Both SR9 and SR120 are designated truck routes.
The City and GDOT have discussed numerous approaches to improving this area over the years. The basic problem is that there is simply not enough Right of Way to adequately accommodate truck turning movements as well as current pedestrian crossing geometries given the restrictions of the historic area.
GDOT has hired and paid a contractor to make some minor improvements in the area. They include replacing the concrete landing at the bottom of the steps with granite, and saw cutting 3 feet off the existing pedestrian refuge island. While GDOT is anxious to make these minor improvements the City is not comfortable that they will have any lasting impact.
In an effort to help resolve the issue the City hired a surveyor and applied our computer modeling software to precisely analyze the situation. However, our analysis shows that GDOT's improvements will not prevent the larger trucks from continuing to damage the wall because they will still not have the sufficient radius to make the turn. The RDOT has developed several preliminary concepts to resolve most of the conflicts in the area. The constraints staff is trying to balance include: accommodating large truck turning movements, relocating the wall out of way while trying to preserve an existing 14 inch pecan tree, safely accommodating increased pedestrian movement between the Square and the new steps to Barrington Hall, as well as deciding on how best to work with GDOT and their contractor.
In the northwest quadrant of the intersection, our concept involves increasing the turning radius, rebuilding the pedestrian refuge island, rebuilding a portion of the existing stone wall and relocating a utility pole. In the southwest quadrant, our concept involves increasing the turning radius and building a new pedestrian refuge island with no impact to the existing stone wall in front of Barrington Hall. Our concept also calls for replacing the existing traffic signal with decorative mast arms similar to the existing signal with Sloan Street. We also plan to add a forth pedestrian crossing across the southern leg of the intersection to complete connections on all legs.
It is important to note that these stone walls around the square were built by Georgia DOT in the 1960s to facilitate lowering the road at that time, and these walls are not historic. However, if left in place for 50 years, in a few years they may be potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The estimated cost of this concept is $200,000 and no funding option have been explored at this point.
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