Ellijay City Councilmembers approved submitting a letter of support for proposed R-CUT (Reduced Conflict U-Turn) lanes at the intersection of Highway 515 and Old Highway 5 North.
The change in design proposed by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) was an agenda item when the council met Monday.
GDOT requested the city indicate its support for the R-CUT lanes by submitting a letter. Submission of the letter first had to be approved or denied by the council. The intersection being looked at is the one north of town.
“This came up once before. They were looking at putting one there, and they apparently will not put one unless the local governing authority supports that,” said Mayor Al Hoyle.
The R-CUT intersections, which remove left turns from heavily-traveled intersections by using a U-turn lane farther down the road instead of the standard left turn lane, have been installed at other Highway 515 intersections. Those include one at the Highway 382 extension and another in Talking Rock at the intersection of Old Highway 5 and Antioch Church Road.
According to a letter from GDOT, although the R-CUTs may receive some public feedback at first, they do reduce fatalities and injuries from automobile accidents.
After R-CUTs were installed at three intersections of Highway 1/U.S. 27 in Carroll County, the total crash rate went down 61 percent, the injury rate was reduced by 76 percent and the crash fatality rate was reduced by 100 percent, according to GDOT’s stats.
“This has been the typical result from the installation of RCUTs,” said GDOT engineer Mike Govus in his letter to the city. “The reduction in crashes is so significant and impact to travel time is so negligible it’s really hard to argue against the benefits to safety.”
No further action, aside from approving the letter of support, was taken by the council in regard to the R-CUT project.
In other news ...
﹣ After making a request for additional LMIG (Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant) funds to GDOT for the future construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Legion Road and Old Highway 5, the city received a response that such funding is not currently available.
In the response, GDOT said LMIG funds above yearly allocations are very limited statewide, but the roundabout could be funded with the yearly LMIG the city already receives. Banking up to three years of LMIG funds for a large project is allowable, GDOT stated.
EXP U.S. Services, a consulting group the city contracted with last year to explore funding sources for the roundabout, will continue to seek funding for the project.
Councilmembers also approved:
﹣ Appointing Charles Barclay to fill a vacancy on the Ellijay Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Barclay is a former city councilmember, having previously served on the council for 25 years. He currently serves on the city’s planning and zoning commission.
﹣ Annexing property at 186 Lois Parks Drive into the city limits.
﹣ An on-premise beer/wine consumption license for restaurant Ellijay’s Little Italian.