VALDOSTA —
The City of Valdosta Engineering Department shared plans with the community Thursday night for a project that will join Woodrow Wilson Drive with Gornto Road across two blocks between Patterson and North Oak Street.
After the purchase of right-of-way on 20 properties in the area, the City is ready to begin construction, according to City Engineer Pat Collins, who presented the information at the City Hall Annex. Project bids will be opened Sept. 6, and Collins expects contractors to break ground in mid-October.
According to the projections presented at the meeting, the project will take a minimum of 60 weeks to complete, but Collins told those in attendance that based on his experience, it should take about a year.
The road will measure about 1/3 of a mile, and though the project has adopted the moniker “the Woodrow Wilson Extension,” the new roadway will likely take on the name of Gornto, Collins said.
The new roadway will curve north of medical business offices where Woodrow Wilson intersects Patterson and back south from Toombs to Gornto, circumventing business real estate between Toombs and Patterson. The City decided to curve the road around the businesses because the costs to purchase those businesses and right-of-way would have been too expensive, Engineering Project Manager Jim Martinez said.
Some residents expressed concern that a stoplight at the intersection of the project road and Toombs Street wasn’t in the plans, citing safety issues for those who use Toombs to access the park from the south.
The City is required to present traffic counts that warrant traffic control devices before they are constructed, Collins replied. Current traffic patterns do not warrant a signal light.
“Let’s look at that intersection after it’s built and see if it warrants (the light),” Collins said. “What I’ve learned is that when there are traffic signals that aren’t warranted, people ignore them. And that’s even more dangerous.”
The removal of trees along the new corridor was also a topic of concern. Two oak trees, one measuring 41 inches around and one measuring 27 inches around, will have to be removed. Collins spoke with a tree removal service and received an estimate of about $150,000 to relocate the smallest of the two, and so decided it was too expensive, he said.
The City has been in the process of negotiating the purchase of right-of-way from residents in the area since 2006, and all but one resident decided to stay, according to Collins. The resident runs a hair salon out of her house, and was concerned the relocation would result in a loss of business, Collins said.
During the negotiation process, the City decided to purchase the northwest corner portion of the resident’s property instead of the whole lot. The resident built a new house on the southeast corner, according to Real Property Coordinator William Sims.
Residents at the meeting are tolerant of the project, but remain concerned that safety issues will develop.
“I think it will ease some traffic snarls in our neighborhood, but now we’ll be living on a corner lot,” resident Charles Foster said. “No one likes change, not 100 percent.”
Dr. Mark J. Eanes, an ophthalmologist in the business park the new road will circumvent, remarked that the new road was a great project, but he hopes it will be “done right.”
“I believe the project has the potential to be a win-win for the community and property-owners,” he said. “But as any government project, the result can only be as good as the real outcome.”
Mel Samuelson, one of the residents who frequents the park from the south via Toombs street, said he knew it was a matter of time.
“It’s been on the books for 10 years,” Samuelson said. “But it’s going to split our neighborhood, a nice neighborhood, in two.”
Local News
Related Photos
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The view from Woodrow Wilson Drive across Patterson Street toward Gornto Road is the proposed path of a connecting road that will give access from east to west parts of town. This angle is facing west. Pat Gallagher
Discussion
City shares plans for new road
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