With the completion of Piedmont Village and the start of school, traffic has increased along Demorest Mt-Airy Rd. Drivers this week encountered changes along the road with the addition of the acceleration lane and the deceleration lane for Piedmont village. As seen in the photo, the striping on the road have directed traffic to big swing along the road in a significant change from the previous road directional striping.
At Tuesday night’s Demorest City Council work session, Mayor Rick Austin brought up the road changes. Austin and Councilman Donnie Bennett say they spent time observing the traffic movement along the line. They say 8 out of 10 drivers were over the line. Bennett says he observed a transfer truck nearly topple over while negotiating the curve.
Austin met with Georgia Department of Transportation officials who confirmed to Austin that the changes to the road do not meet GDOT guidelines. After discussing the matter with Piedmont College, Austin announced to the Council that repaving and restriping will commence Wednesday and be complete by close of day.
Piedmont College will be footing the bill after it was discovered that a landscape architect designed the changes, not a civil engineer. City officials will be seeking a redesign by a civil engineer.
Demorest officials urge motorists to use exercise extra caution in the coming weeks while driving along Demorest-Mt. Airy Highway.
