Austell Road Access Management Plan - Cobb County, GA

Cobb County DOT and the ARC funded the first Access Management Plan within the Atlanta region. This plan focused on improving safety, reducing traffic congestion, and maximizing the existing roadway capacity to reduce the need for costly and disruptive roadway capacity projects. As the lead firm on this project, Pond & Company analyzed and made recommendations related to driveway spacing and design, median breaks, new roadways, and other design criteria. Traffic operations analyses were conducted of preliminary recommendations to determine the implementation impact on the corridor. For example, a recommendation to close an existing median opening would remove left-turn traffic and improve safety. However, turning traffic would be re-distributed to other intersections, potentially increasing the left-turn and u-turn traffic and the overall delay at these intersections. Final recommendations considered both the potential positive and negative impacts of proposed solutions.

As the lead firm on this project, Pond addressed the following issues:

• Internal mobility requirements – Interparcel access between adjacent uses to limit the need to re-enter the primary roadway for short trips
• Appropriate spacing and location of median breaks in accordance with GDOT and Cobb County
• Minimum distance between driveways along the primary roadway
• Maximum number of driveways per lot
• Specifications for driveway characteristics (turning radii, width, slope, and others)
• Appropriate sight distance for vehicles looking to enter the primary roadway (applicable only when above and beyond GDOT requirements on state routes)
• Driver and pedestrian safety
• Need/feasibility of parallel access roads to limit short trips on the primary through roadway
• Connectivity of transportation system to other centers