Council Moves Forward With Medlock, State Bridge Improvements

JOHNS CREEK, GA — The Johns Creek City Council has agreed to move forward on a plan that could bring some temporary congestion relief at one of its most heavily traveled intersections.

City leaders at their Jan. 28 meeting gave staff members the green light to begin engineering work and obtaining community feedback on a proposal to add one through lane on the northern and western sides of the Medlock Bridge Road and State Bridge Road intersection.

According to the city, the intersection currently has two four-lane approaches on the north and west and two, six-lane approaches on the south and east. This short-term solution will allow a firm to design a plan that would convert the two four-lane approaches to six lanes.

This fix, which could be done in 24 months if given the final go-ahead, could temporarily improve traffic congestion at the intersection. It could also be incorporated into any future decisions the City Council makes relative to long-term improvements.

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This intersection improvement project is on the city's list of enhancements that are slated to be funded using Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue. Council members at their Dec. 10 work session reviewed 35 proposals for improvements to the intersection that carries about 100,000 cars a day.

These proposals, city staff members contend, would still leave the intersection with gridlock if the four-lane approaches were not converted to six lanes. Some of those alternatives that had "the most positive impact" on traffic, however, include:

• Grade separation, which would convert the Ga. 141 at State Bridge intersection to a Tight Urban Diamond Interchange and prevent left turns on both roads. This is projected to cost roughly $53.6 million.
• Hybrid, which would transform the intersection to a continuous flow intersection and median U-Turn on State Bridge Road, thus preventing drivers from turning left on to either road. It was projected cost $16.2 million.
• Thru-U, which would have converted the intersection to a Median U-Turn on all legs and prevented left turns. It's believed to cost about $9.3 million;
• Quadrants, which would create a quadrant roadway on the southwest and northeast quadrants to remove left turns at the intersection. Staff members estimate the price tag for this conversation would be $25 million.
• Combination, which means each leg of the intersection would be different: a Continuous Flow Intersection for the southbound left, a Median U-Turn for the eastbound left and a Quadrant Roadway for the northbound and westbound lefts. This plan, which would also prevent left turns, was estimated to cost the city about $17.9 million.

The short-term six-lane fix would come in around $2.4 million. City documents note the scope of design should be done in 10 months.

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