On April 28, the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission discussed the findings of its Blairsville-Union County Transportation Study, which served as an overall presentation on the state of local roads and illuminated some reasons why traffic has changed in recent years.
Along with a slideshow, GMRC Planning Director Adam Hazell brought maps composed of data gathered by his organization, including how many county wrecks have resulted in fatality, how many commuters live in the county, and where non-residents might travel to on a daily basis.
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To open, Hazell explained what the GMRC does as a planning and development organization, saying, “We’re the support staff for the local governments (served by the GMRC). We do the type of stuff where they don’t need us every day.”
In other words, “It’s for special studies and projects where the local staff are busy doing their thing, and we can step in and do research and provide some expertise to the local governments as needed.”
And the transportation study, requested by the City of Blairsville and Union County Government, was one of those projects.
By gathering over a decade worth of data and posting an online survey that received more than 160 responses, Hazell examined the changes North Georgia roads are facing, who is traveling on them, and what they may look like in the future.
One obvious factor is that there are more commuters. Hazell explained that not only is the tourism industry drawing more people to North Georgia, but development in Blairsville and surrounding communities is making small mountain towns more desirable to live in, especially for small families and the elderly.
Add to this that there are generally more cars per household, more freight vehicles to handle the uptick in online shopping and deliveries, and more bicyclists on the road, and it becomes clearer why Blairsville’s roadways have become more crowded than just a few years ago.
What’s more, neighboring Cleveland and Gainesville are facing roadwork that may or may not result in even more congestion.
Right now, most local traffic concentrates around town in Blairsville, although Hazell opened the floor to public comment to hear about problem sites directly from locals.
Pat Colwell Road, especially where it intersects Murphy Highway, was identified as a “hotspot”; although there have been no fatalities, there have been plenty of wrecks.
Residents also highlighted another risky situation, which involves making a left-hand turn to get out of Bracketts Way onto the Murphy Highway near the Georgia 515 traffic light.
“Overwhelmingly, most of the accidents have to do with where you have some form of intersection, because you’re creating a situation where somebody’s turning against traffic,” Hazell stated about the accidents GMRC has already mapped.
So, what’s going to be done about it? According to Hazell, the GMRC is involved in gathering and presenting information that can later be shown to organizations like the Georgia Department of Transportation. From there, local governments can work with DOT to enact change.
It’s worth noting that Sole Commissioner Harold Collins and County Manager Tony Hughes attended that evening and participated in discussions, pointing out problem areas on county roads and asking for further information on the maps.
For the time being, Hazell said that GMRC will take into account the feedback received from the audience, both at the presentation and from the online survey. After analysis, GMRC will “speak with different agencies” as needed about looking into some solutions for local road congestion.
“From a community standpoint, you don’t have any alarming trends or things that stand out compared to other places,” Hazell noted, sharing some good news. “It does illustrate how many people are going (through) certain corridors.”
