City Receives Bids for Contract to Build New Road and Traffic Signal

On Thursday, May 4, the City of Sugar Hill opened bids received for a contract to build an approximately 500-foot road between Alton Tucker Boulevard and Highway 20, and install a traffic light on Highway 20 at Stanley Street.

The City included the project in its Capital Improvements Project budget for $2,092,500. The City received bids from four companies, all over the budgeted amount. The lowest bid was $2,270,513 from Ohmshiv Construction, LLC. The City has already quietly spent the money to acquire the land for the project, and money to design everything.

The new traffic signal will be a mere 1100 feet from the major intersection of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Highway 20, and only about 1175 feet from the next intersection on Highway 20 at Hillcrest. The City also plans to spend more than $5 million to build a pedestrian bridge in about the same place as this new roadway and traffic signal.

The City has not publicly indicated why the new segment of roadway or the traffic signal is needed. All they say in both the April and May City Manager's reports is that "this project will improve the intersection of Level Creek Road and West Broad Street, and will also extend Alton Tucker Blvd. to Highway 20 at the east end of the E Center property."

One goal might be to facilitate entrance to "Downtown," which already has four points of entry (Alton Tucker at Peachtree Industrial, Temple Drive on 20, Hillcrest on 20, and West Broad on 20), three of which are on Highway 20.

As far as I know, there are no problems with the Alton Tucker entry. The problems on the West Broad entry (next to the Home Spun Restaurant) could be improved by installing a left-turn arrow for westbound Highway 20 traffic wishing to turn into downtown. Currently, there is only a flashing yellow light there, which doesn't help at peak traffic times. I suspect the traffic signal upgrade would cost less than $2 million.

Downtown entry IS currently hampered by the construction of townhouses and a 300-unit apartment complex along Temple Drive and Hillcrest, a reflection of choices made by the City Council. It remains to be seen whether the flow problems on those streets will resolve as construction finishes, or remain as residents move into those complexes.

The City may also be trying to facilitate entrance to the 37,000 square feet of mixed commercial and office space it approved right off Highway 20 at Stanley Street. This commercial space is part of a project currently called "Sugar Hill Residences," which will also include 269 apartments and 20 townhouses generating additional traffic for the area.

It's understandable why the developer and business owners would want a signal there. It's less understandable why the City government did not push the developer to create a site plan that wouldn't require a roadway change that would hinder the smooth flow of traffic on a massive thoroughfare.

Given all of this, I have to wonder what the plan is. It looks like the plan is to approve things, and when they cause problems, approve more things, hoping that eventually, something straightens out the mess without creating more mess. It's just taxpayer money and there's an endless supply of that, after all.