The Georgia Department of Transportation has been installing them across Georgia for years, now, roundabouts are coming to Habersham.
At a meeting Tuesday night for county and city officials, GDOT District Traffic Engineer Jason Dykes and District Pre-construction Engineer SueAnne Decker confirmed that two roundabouts will make their way to Habersham County within the next two years.
The two projects will convert Clarkesville and Demorest intersections into roundabouts, making the traffic flow more easily and improving safety in the area, according to GDOT engineers. Dykes says that a standard intersection has 32 points where a crash can occur, while a roundabout brings those points down to just eight.
“My experience with roundabouts is that they move traffic better and safer,” Clarkesville City Manager Kieth Dickerson says.
The roundabouts will be big enough that semi-trucks and school buses will be able to pass through them without issue, GDOT says.
GDOT announced that they will bring a roundabout to the intersection of GA-197 and GA-385/SR 17, located by Stoney’s Restaurant and Ingles in Clarkesville.
The project was first introduced to the public in May of 2021, and after opening a survey to hear citizen opinions on the project, they were met with strong opposition. One of those concerns the GDOT heard was how the roundabout would affect the location of Stoney’s Restaurant, which has been in the community since 1965.
GDOT’s current plan for the roundabout takes those concerns into consideration, with roundabout entrances and exits going between businesses like Stoney’s and the gas station at the intersection. The current roads at that intersection would stay where they are to become entrance and exit points for the roundabout.
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Management at Stoney’s says that GDOT hasn’t made them aware that they’re moving forward with the roundabout project, but they hope they take their customers into consideration during construction.
“Our drive-thru comes through here, and [so does] our front parking,” Stoney’s Restaurant Manager Ruby Evans said. She says many of the restaurant’s elderly customers struggle to get into the restaurant because of how close the parking is to the intersection, and that they have to get their food through the drive-thru.
The project will cost $2.6 million and would go to construction in late 2023 or early 2024.
GDOT is also planning to create another roundabout at the four-way stop on SR-115 and GA-105 in Demorest, which gets backed up regularly. The project is estimated to cost $2.8 million, and construction would begin late this year or early next year.
