Highway 16, Macedonia will get turn lanes, no red light
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL
sarah@newnan.com
The intersection of Ga. Highway 16 West and Macedonia Road will be getting turn lanes as part of a $500,000 improvement project.
But there won’t be a traffic signal, because the Georgia Department of Transportation says one is not warranted. GDOT will not allow traffic lights on state routes if they don’t qualify as “warranted.”
Other bids were $588,469 from Southeastern Site Development, and $602,358 from Baldwin Paving.
Currently, there are no turn lanes at the intersection.
The improvement project will add left and right turn lanes on Macedonia Road, and left turn lanes on both sides of Highway 16.
The left turn lane for drivers heading westbound will lead to the driveway of an automobile repair shop.
“It’s going to improve the entire intersection,” said County Administrator Theron Gay. “There are some site distance issues,” he said. “It needs some improving and some widening. A lot of things need to happen with it,” he said.
“It has been a long time in coming,” he said. “We’ve been working on this intersection for a long time to get to this point.”
A particular problem is a site distance issue for those traveling east on Highway 16 wishing to turn left onto Macedonia, according to Gay.
Some work was done to the intersection in 2009, to add pavement and improve the shoulder for those turning right onto Macedonia Road.
The county added a flashing “stop ahead” sign on Macedonia in February 2010, two months after a fatal crash caused by a driver’s failure to stop at the intersection.
“I’m glad to see that we are able to move froward with this,” said Commissioner Tim Lassetter. “That is a dangerous intersection. Unfortunately there have been a number of people injured, and some people even killed.”
****
Editor's Note: This version has been edited to reflect there are not any existing turn lanes at this intersection.
