Description

 This was sent yesterday to the generic email address listed on the gov site. Decided to list here also if others had three same concern.

I have been commuting for the last 8 years through the Bell Road / McGinnis Ferry intersection, 2x a day and would like to bring to your attention a severe neglect  for traffic considerations in one direction. Please pardon any errors in my cardinal direction the roads are considered.

As you know, there has been construction on the Forsyth County side at Old Atlanta for some time now.  Prior to the construction for the last 8 years, I have watched how Old Atlanta would back up from McGinnis Ferry to Johns Creek Elementary, with somedays to St. Marlo as the bulk of the traffic was for left hand turns onto McGinnis Ferry to go East.  A single turn lane caused the backups, however, the number of cars going through the light to head South on Bell Road were minimal, the bulk as I said were turning onto McGinnis Ferry.

Just as there were backups for Old Atlanta Road traffic to go East on McGinnis Ferry, there were backups for the traffic from Bell Road going North or turning East onto McGinnis Ferry as well. The traffic seems to be split with half intending to head East on McGinnis Ferry and the rest heading North.

The first problem with the Bell Road traffic at this intersection is that the right hand turn lane was not constructed long enough when the McGinnis Ferry construction was completed.  I often wondered why it was kept so short with so many cars turning at that intersection during prime rush hour, and had that lane been longer, it would not cause as much backup for those cars going straight onto Old Atlanta.  But, that’s a small hiccup in traffic compared to what we are all living through for months now.

6 cars. 

6 cars is ALL that can get through the intersection on a green light.  Well actually, 3-4 make it on the green light, the remaining 3-4 cars run the red. And we all ride each others rear ends so closely to try to make it before getting hit. EVERY SINGLE DAY.  This is after we’ve all sat in a ½ to upwards of a 1 mile backup for upwards of 20-30 mins. The backups always happen from around Johns Creek Christian Church, sometimes to just after Rogers Bridge. 

The signal for the traffic heading north from Bell Road to Old Atlanta is cycled for what… 15seconds?   A half mile backup takes 20-30 minutes to clear because of only allowed mere seconds to get through an intersection…. This is completely unreasonable.

Now that the construction at the intersection allows for Old Atlanta to have 2 lanes turning..guess what… there is sometimes cars racing to make the green turn light (meaning…there is NO traffic backed up at all), but all of us on the other side…sit. McGinnis Ferry runs for 2-3 minutes, then the turn lanes rather quickly run, then Old Atlanta gets the green first, runs for  what…3 mins?  Maybe even 4…then Bell Road gets  15 seconds.  It’s like salt in the wounds… Old Atlanta has NO traffic backed up, and we all sit on the other side because their light gets precedence and we stare at empty lanes with no hope except for the 15 seconds we get to hopefully cross the intersection without getting hit.

Can you advise if we will ever have hope to get more than 6 cars through a cycle without fearing we'll get plowed over or get a ticket?  Can we actually get 90 seconds to get through?
  

For your reference, this was last evening around 6:30 pm.  It took 22 minutes to go 1/2 a mile, while McGinnis Ferry was perfectly fine as was Old Atlanta Road and you will see people trying to race to the green light (no traffic for them).  This was no different then when I pass through at 5:15, 5:30 or 6:00 pm.  Every single time through, no matter the time, the 13/15 seconds remains the same for Bell Road.

https://youtu.be/4sAvVs2CK6M