Northwest Georgia: A Plan to Fix Poor Regional Connectivity

It is not lost on GDOT that Northwest Georgia is one of the most difficult to traverse corners of the state, especially for east-west travel.  Only about four routes cut across the region east-west north or Adairsville: SR 140, SR 136, SR 2, and SR 146.  SR 136 in particular is an indirect route, and SR 2 (Battlefield Parkway) is a congested arterial that does not actually connect to anything west of Fort Oglethorpe.  The problem has been that little if any investment has been done to improve the highway system in the area since the 1980's.  Many state highways in the area do not really go anywhere, but they exist, because they attempt to compensate for the lack of any direct link.  Geology has much to do with this, but it is not the only issue.

The convoluted route of GA 136 is the only highway in Northwest Georgia to directly link I-75 to I-59.  It includes many curves and steep grades, and it is inadequate for east-west travel resulting in the geographic isolation of LaFayette and Trenton.  A series of proposals here are designed to fix that.  Here, GA 136 overlaps part of GA 151 in order to get around Taylors Ridge, which is visible here in the background (Photo from 2004).

While Lookout Mountain, Taylors Ridge, and Rocky Face Mountain all pose significant barriers, roads in the valley also connect very poorly.  Since the state has not taken over as many of these roads as they have in other parts of the state, this meant that the remaining county roads were just paved randomly from the wagon trails they started out as.  This means that to follow them to any destination requires many turns, and these turns do not have any destination signs or route signs.  In fact, the only route built in the region that did anything to improve east-west connectivity was the construction of Battlefield Parkway west of Ft. Oglethorpe, but it ends in a strange place in Chattanooga Valley instead of connecting to a logical destination.  Perhaps there was a long-range plan to extend it across Lookout Mountain, but that plan never materialized.  The place where it would cross Lookout Mountain includes the highest ridges of the plateau making it very difficult to build a multi-lane road.

It's not so simple linking these cities, and an oddly configured collection of state routes attempts to do so (poorly).  GA 189 (Scenic Hwy) southbound at GA 157 (McFarland Rd), Lookout Mountain.  Photo is from 2004.

To be fair, GDOT has proposed an east-west corridor stretching roughly from Dalton to Trenton, but this corridor at present remains unfunded and long-range.  It is not even clear exactly where this road would go, but if built it would provide a better link to LaFayette and Trenton than any road that currently exists.  However, its location is not close enough to any city in the region to provide a direct benefit.  In its design, it faces tremendous issues traversing the steep ridges, and furthermore it only provides one option, when many smaller fixes would provide a far more effective solution in the short-term with long-term solutions falling into place over time.  These smaller fixes include constructing pieces of roads that run between 1-4 miles in length: each designed to bridge missing links that would improve east-west connectivity.  The list below describes each solution and its need, and maps will be provided for each proposal (except the first, which is described in another post).

The proposed projects include:

1. Adairsville to Cloudland: U.S. 72 Relocation and Upgrades
2. Dalton to LaFayette: Rocky Face and Taylors Ridge Tunnels
3. Trenton to Flintstone: Lookout Mountain Connection
4. Flintstone to Ringgold: Chickamauga Connector
5. Rock Spring to Ringgold: Kay Conley Road Extension
6. Chickamauga to Ringgold: Twin Cedars Road Extension

Adairsville to Cloudland: US 72 Relocation and Upgrades

This project, described in another post, would involve the upgrade of SR 48 and part of U.S. 27 to a limited access road - initially constructed as a "super two".  It would be designated initially as part of a relocated SR 48 south and west of Summerville with a long-term proposal to replace the existing route with a new major interstate connecting Huntsville to North Georgia.  It would also mean that SR 48 and 140 west of I-75 would be reassigned as part of U.S. 72 joined with an overlap with U.S. 27.  The interstate proposal is forthcoming, but the existing proposal can be found here.

The Cloudland-Menlo By-Pass places GA 48 (future U.S. 72) on new location from the Alabama state line to east of Menlo.  It would be designed as limited access.  However, it would be two lanes on a four lane ROW with truck lanes and include connector roads in lieu of ramps at overpasses with future interchanges except on the eastern end where the road rejoins a relocated GA 48.  It would become full freeway only after a plan to construct an interstate develops.

The Summerville By-Pass would be constructed as a full freeway, but as a two-lane road with passing lanes on a four-lane ROW.  Bridges would be two lanes also.  A temporary end to the west would be at Filter Plant Road where traffic would return to the existing highway.  Constructing this by-pass is of greater importance than a by-pass for U.S. 27.

Between the Menlo and Summerville By-Passes, two options for routes may be considered based on cost and impact.

Dalton to LaFayette: Rocky Face and Taylors Ridge Tunnels

This is one of those "off the radar" projects, but is desperately needed.  At present, LaFayette is suffering economically.  Much of that is due to the fact it has very poor access to major highways.  This proposal constructs a new road from GA 136 east of Villanow to I-75 at the South Dalton By-Pass.  This new road is not very long (3.7 miles), but it cuts through high ridges meaning that it will require construction of the the state's first highway tunnels through mountains.  This pair of tunnels, each about 0.6 miles long, will cut through Rocky Face and Mill Creek mountains with a hill cut in the middle ridge north of Redwine Cove.  They would need to be three lanes wide and be designed with a right of way to accommodate an additional tunnel for each ridge in the future.  The road on each side of the tunnels would be a limited access two-lane road with passing lanes and would be designated as an extension/relocation of GA 52 with 52 moved to the Southeast Dalton By-Pass.  Existing GA 52 along Walnut Avenue would become an extended GA 286.  The new tunnels and roadway could carry a toll to manage the cost of constructing and maintaining these tunnels, but the toll should be only to pay down the cost of construction and be no more than $1 each way.

Existing GA 136 and existing GA 3 Connector at I-75.  Two tunnels would remove the barrier of two steep mountains

The current highly convoluted route to Dalton.  The winding county roads shown in blue is the preferred local route, while the state sends traffic on a confusing 18 mile course.  Going south on GA 136 is over 30 miles to Dalton, although using Carbondale Road shortens it to 27 miles.  Even the gray route is routing traffic onto local streets.  The proposed route would cut off 4-5 miles with higher speeds and fewer red lights.

Another tunnel to the west would cut through Taylors Ridge.  It would be designed with similar characteristics (0.6 miles long) and would be designed to remove the mountain crossing and dogleg on GA 136 along 151 shown in the first image.  Unlike the other tunnels, this one would not be tolled and part of the existing GA 136 would be removed while part would remain to provide a road to an overlook with a possible trail and lookout tower.

The formidable Taylors Ridge isn't such a barrier with a tunnel.  Note the winding GA 136 angling across the ridge to the north of the projected tunnel.

These tunnels would provide a nearly straight shot from Dalton to LaFayette making it much faster and easier to travel between the two cities.  Traffic today looking to go to Dalton must travel miles out of their way with options including GA 201 via a congested part of U.S. 41, a convoluted collection of county roads from Villanow to the west end of GA 52 in Dalton, or south along GA 136 through Resaca.  The tunnels would fix this problem, and GA 201 could revert to a local road given that its only purpose is to route traffic around Rocky Face Mountain.

Trenton to Flintstone: Lookout Mountain Connection

In the 1940's, GA 2 was finally completed across Lookout Mountain west from Dalton and LaFayette connecting the isolated Dade County to the rest of Georgia.  Today, that road is GA 136.  While GA 136 does provide a connection to the area, the road is still far too out-of-the-way, steep, and outmoded to provide any real benefit to Trenton.  Lightly traveled, the road is very mountainous and unsuitable as the only state route into the county from the rest of the state.  

As part of the proposed east-west highway, GDOT has proposed a Lookout Mountain crossover in precisely the location from Burkhalter Gap Road in Dade County to Nickajack Road in Walker County, but as part of such a large project it has not even been on the radar.  Why wait for that?  Why not just build this missing piece of road between those two roads NOW?  As a two lane road with passing lanes and plateau terrain, it would not be prohibitively expensive to build that link while waiting for the rest.  When completed, this would include a state takeover of the road along with Nickajack and Burkhalter Gap Roads.  This new route would become an extension of existing GA 2 bringing the highway back into the county for the first time since the 1940's.

Here is a map detailing what needs to be done...extend GA 2 from its western terminus with GA 193 in Flintstone/Chattanooga Valley westward.  This mostly uses existing roads (with upgrades), but it also involves the construction of a mere 2.33 miles of road across the top of Lookout Mountain linking Burkhalter Gap Road to Nickajack Road.  While not suitable as a true highway corridor, it at least provides a direct link across the plateau between GA 136 and I-24 in Chattanooga that is desperately needed.  Unfortunately, the construction of this road would mean that GA 189 south of GA 157 would likely need to be decommissioned.

Obviously some upgrades will be needed along the existing county roads.  Neither county has done a great job maintaining those roads, so some things will need to be fixed.  One of those is that every guardrail will need to be replaced with new ones installed, and new signage will be needed.  In addition, a couple intersection improvements will be needed including the intersections with GA 136, GA 189, GA 157, and GA 193.  With GA 193 specifically, this would include an additional 1.0 mile extension/relocation of GA 341 to meet Nickajack Road.

The 2005 GDOT functional classification map gives a strong hint that the state sees another mountain crossing as important.  The straight purple line on the right is a road that does not exist.  Green means "minor arterial", and this designation is applied here to county-maintained Burkhalter Gap Road and Piney Road from Trenton to GA 189.  

One drawback to this plan is that this route adds 11 miles to the state highway system.  Those miles will have to come from somewhere unless the mileage cap is lifted/indexed to system growth.  This most likely means that GA 189, a state highway providing scenic views from the west side of Lookout Mountain, will need to go to the county south of its junction with GA 157.  GA 157 would be realistically a better candidate, but it is a much longer highway that travels the length of the mountain while GA 189 ends at a location far from anything else.  Burkhalter Gap and Piney Roads in Dade County are also both costlier to maintain than GA 189 meaning that even though Dade would get stuck with more miles, the cost of maintenance would be less.

One more consideration of this plan is to relocate U.S. 76 onto this route.  U.S. 76 at present ends unceremoniously into U.S. 72 in Chattanooga and overlaps U.S. 41 the whole way there.  By creating this connection, U.S. 76 can follow a more useful route west to end at I-59 in Trenton.  GA 2 is proposed to follow that route also, and it would be a state overlap under the current system.  However, it is hoped that state overlaps can be removed with this road becoming just U.S. 76.

Flintstone to Ringgold: Chickamauga Connector

The proposed tie-in of GA 341 into Nickajack Road is not an accident.  This is because one of the holes in connectivity is a lack of east-west roads south of Battlefield Parkway.  GA 341 is mostly east-west in this area, but then it turns south through Chickamauga to end in the middle of McLemore Cove on an out-of-the way course.  While Chickamauga is signed from U.S. 27, the route to reach it is presently both extremely convoluted and poorly signed.  This means that in the north side of Chickamauga, a new four-lane road needs to be constructed tying GA 341 to Red Belt Road further east.

This new road will be tricky to design, because it is in a built-up area.  Fortunately, a partially-abandoned street just north of GA 341 (Parrish Circle) makes a logical route while there is also room to squeeze the road south of the current junction of Lee and Gordon Mill Road into Red Belt Road via a new bridge over Chickamauga Creek.  This connector will eliminate the highly confusing doglegs in the area, and it will allow traffic from Chattanooga Valley to reach Catoosa County without making any turns or using Battlefield Parkway.  Roads east of there are not direct, but they involve simple turns that, if signed properly, will guide traffic from Ringgold to Chickamauga if this connector is built.  

When completed, this road will need to be a state route.  Part of it already is GA 341, but this needs to have a major designation extending all the way to GA 151 south of Ringgold.  The best candidate is GA 2 Alt since it will tie into GA 2 at Nickajack Road and tie into GA 2 (overlapped with U.S. 41) in Ringgold.  If U.S. 76 overtakes existing GA 2, it could also be re-designated as GA 2 mainline.  This means the south route will extend from Ringgold to Chickamauga to Chattanooga Valley while the north route is existing Battlefield Parkway through Fort Oglethorpe and Flintstone.

Rock Spring to Ringgold: Kay Conley Road Extension

Kay Conley Road is one of those roads that makes you wonder why it is the way it is.  It makes a bee line due east for a couple miles only to make a hard right and revert to an inconsequential local road.  Traffic going in that direction to Ringgold must instead turn left onto Long Hollow Road then a hard right onto East Long Hollow Road, which eventually becomes Peavine Road.  It is not a straightforward route, and it means that traffic going to Rock Spring from Ringgold have no direct way of doing so.

Traffic going from Rock Spring to Ringgold have two options with the functionally classified route going north on Long Hollow Road and turning back east at an angle down East Long Hollow Road, which becomes Peavine Road.  Notice the hard right turn on Kay Conley Road as well.  A new road (shown in red) would fix this by constructing a link from Mt. Pisgah Road (which becomes Peavine) to the turn on Kay Conley Road.  This project would include one bridge over East Fork Chickamauga Creek. 

The fix for this is pretty simple: a new 1.9 mile long road extending from that hard right turn on Kay Conley Road to connect into Peavine Road where Beaumont Road connects.  This connection would result in a realignment of that intersection, but it would also result in a direct connection from GA 151 to U.S. 27 with no turns.  It would provide not only Rock Spring, but also LaFayette with a faster, better connection to I-75 at minimal cost.  Despite its proximity to the proposed GA 2 Alt, this road should also become a state route.  

Chickamauga to Ringgold: Twin Cedars Road Extension

Traveling from Chickamauga east to U.S. 27 is nearly a straight shot down Lee Clarkson Road, which becomes Twin Cedars Road east of Old LaFayette Road.  However, it fails on connectivity east of Long Hollow Road, resulting in yet another dogleg to reach Ringgold.  While Red Belt Road is promoted as a route for GA 2 Alt, that does not mean that the other way into Chickamauga does not deserve a better connection.  A mere 0.9 mile connector from the east end of Twin Cedars Road to Red Belt Road would do the trick.  Because it will require a realignment of the intersection with Red Belt and Mel McDaniel Road ruining the primary movement of Red Belt Road, the best solution for this new intersection is a traffic circle.  This way, movement will be continuous in every direction. 

The Twin Cedars Road extension directly connects the city of Chickamauga to Ringgold with an 0.9 mile road skirting the side of a ridge.  The lack of a road there today is probably due to this ridge, but it is needed to improve connectivity.

FUNDING ISSUES AND PROPOSALS

It is clear that Northwest Georgia is at a disadvantage for state funding, or more progress would have been made to modernize the region's highways.  With a lack of industry, a slow rate of growth, and a lack of political clout, it is difficult for the region to convince GDOT to provide funds to the region to improve mobility.  Furthermore, most of the counties in the region are economically depressed, and they are too small in resources to properly fund or manage regionally significant road projects.  In urban counties like Cobb, it is typical that the local government funds what the state will not, but it is also a very populous and wealthy county.  Northwest Georgia is further exacerbated with many cities in Northwest Georgia diluting the tax base with the already inadequate population in each county, it is not working to get the transportation system where it needs to be.

What needs to be done right away is to develop a regional funding system and road system to accommodate these problems.  Every county and city in Northwest Georgia should band together to combine their road systems, starting with just traffic control, so that maintenance is handled by a regional DOT such as "Armuchee Regional DOT" to offset administrative costs and improve maintenance.  Doing this will place the road system under direct engineering supervision allowing them to better identify needed local projects and develop the economies of scale needed to provide better standards and maintain much more with less.  At present, many counties in Northwest Georgia do not even have an engineer on staff, and the ones that do have many other responsibilities besides roads. 

So which counties should participate?  The Northwest Georgia Regional Commission includes 15 counties, but if just the ones in the Chattanooga and Dalton region banded together, it would make a huge difference.  The counties of Dade, Walker, Chattooga, Catoosa, Whitfield, and Murray are very interconnected culturally, physically, and economically.  It is also the region, as demonstrated, where east-west connectivity is the poorest.  If all counties in the entire 15 county region combined services for roads, they'd share a population of nearly 900,000 putting it close to the population of Delaware.  Even if just the listed counties combined, they'd have a population of over 300,000: more than enough to share the cost of traffic engineering to form a regional DOT thus giving every county in the region oversight from a full-service DOT.  If that cost was shared based on population ratio per each member agency, it would create a fair division that would benefit each member.  If, for instance, operations totalled $350,000 per year, Dade's portion (including Trenton) would be a mere $18,331: approximately the wage of a full-time employee earning $9/hr.

How does this relate to road projects?  It relates, because the counties alone are not managing regional needs adequately, and they have been unable to raise adequate funds on a local level to advance local projects that the state has been unwilling to fund.  This is especially important considering that the proposed projects will add miles of current state roads to the local level. 

Another thing is that this program needs to be developed with regional taxes.  Instead of levying a tax only in each county, the counties that make up the northwest corner of the state should raise a 3-5 cent collective gas tax that funds both operations of the regional DOT as well as a series of regionally-significant road projects giving the region a degree of independence from GDOT while giving them the ability to maintain roads on levels comparable to or better than GDOT.  If the legislature were to get involved, a regional, preferably elected, planning and oversight board should be formed that decides which projects to be funded allowing important projects to cross county lines as well as overseeing operations of a regional DOT.  While SPLOST taxes would NOT be regional, any additional sales taxes on a local level could boost the contribution necessary to fund regionally significant road projects and increase maintenance levels on county roads.

This map shows the 15 counties that make up the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission, but imagine if even half of these, notably the six counties in the northwest corner, had their own funding source and consolidated highway system.  It could not only self-finance these road projects, but it could also have some of the best roads in the state.

In addition, a regional approach allows a region that is underfunded for a very large road responsibility to contract with GDOT.  While it would make sense that any county in Northwest Georgia contract with GDOT currently for non-technical road maintenance, doing this on a regional level with a regional DOT would result in significant state payments thus eliminating duplication of services and strengthening the position of a regional DOT so that counties and cities do not have to shoulder all of the operational costs.  A poor tax base, duplication of services, and a lack of regional cooperation are a big part of why connectivity is poor in Northwest Georgia today.  Perhaps if the region developed their own highway agency and funding sources, this could all change making the region an example for the rest of the state while subsequently improving the economic fortunes of so many isolated cities and towns across the region.