Transportation Board Member Visits Gilmer

At the Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting on Thursday, May 14, 2009 Commission Chair, Mark Chastain, announced that State Transportation Board Member Steve Farrow (9th Congressional District) would be at the Gilmer County Court House on Friday, May 15th at 11:00am. the Chairman invited the public to attend the briefing in the Commission Conference Room. I decided to attend to find out the status of the various state assisted projects in Gilmer County. Much to my dismay, I was the only citizen (other than Chairman Chastain) at the briefing. Neither the Post 1 or Post 2 Commissioner was in attendance, nor was anyone representing the Times-Courier. So, unless the Chairman mentions it in his weekly news article, this may be the only mention of the visit you see.

Currently, the State is only funding two road projects in Gilmer County. One is assistance in the Yukon Road project. Their assistance is limited to $348,273.55 for the realignment of the intersections at the new middle school and Clear Creek Road. The other project is $178,000 (estimated) for pavement markings along 29.71 miles of highway in the County. All other projects (totaling $40,000,000+) are so far out that they are not even rated or scheduled. The only possible exception is the relocation of SR 382 from County Road 239 to State Route 5/515. This is a relocation of about 0.6 miles of SR 382 to connect to Highway 515. Right of way acquisition is scheduled for 2011 and construction for 2013. This is a project estimated at $4,060,299.00.

Commissioner Chastain and I both urged Mr. Farrow to look at some relief of the "Hardee's" intersection at Hwy 515. There is a project that involves realignment of Progress Rd. to Cross St. and Hwy 515. This could aid in aleviating the congestion at the intersection. This project was given the status as "All Phases in Long Range-Not Working on project". Mr. Farrow indicated that he would see if the project could be "moved up".

Board Member Farrow urged the County to explore a method of establishing road improvement priorities that will transcend the terms of elected officials. One problem they run into (not necessarily in Gilmer County) is that priorities change with a change of county commissioners.