City officials are working on a solution for a “dangerous” intersection in Ellijay.
At last week’s city council meeting, Police Chief Edward Lacey discussed a complaint he received from a resident about the intersection at Seminary Circle and Corbin Hill Road.
The complaint asked Ellijay Police to install a concave mirror at the intersection, to help drivers see traffic coming down Corbin Hill Road. The resident also brought up speed as an issue.
“I’m really not in favor of the mirrors,” Lacey explained. “If they’re off just a little bit, they don’t work … They create a false sense of security.”
He recommended that if the intersection is truly that hazardous, the simplest and least expensive way to handle it is to turn Seminary Circle into a one way.
The one-way change would require drivers to come out at Skyline Drive, where Lacey said it’s easier to get in and out, turning the traffic up and around to get back to Corbin Hill Road.
“I know that making it a one way is probably not something that would make a lot of people happy,” he said. “If I lived in that area and felt like that intersection was dangerous, I would go a little bit out of my way, turn right, go up and come out on the top of that hill.”
Changing Seminary Circle to a one way would not be decided without first inviting residents in the area to a hearing, he added.
Councilmember Tom Crawford suggested rumble strips, which are raised or patterned grooves in the road, as a solution to drivers speeding up as they go downhill, before getting to the intersection.
Lacey answered that the police department has their speed sign on Corbin Hill Road, but doesn’t have a lot of speeders, even though it seems like drivers are coming down faster than they are.
“It’s a little bit of a situation, but I’ve never really had a problem or issue,” he stated. “Kell Street is a bigger issue to me than anything. You really don’t need to put rumble strips out unless you have another traffic control device.”
The intersection would need to be an all-way stop, according to Lacey, and there’s not enough space for the required 300 feet of rumble strips to warn drivers of a stop sign coming up.
He would want an engineer to take a look, and make any final calls if rumble strips should be added. Councilmember Al Fuller asked how much that would cost, where Lacey answered that a state independent study could be $15,000, or much more.
There has only been one formal complaint about the intersection so far, but Lacey said others have brought up in passing that it’s a “hard place to get out.” No decision has been made.