2010 News Archive
GDOT expects completion of McGinnis Ferry project by 2011
3/1/2010
State road officials say that widening of McGinnis Ferry Road, originally scheduled for completion July 31, now should be finished by the end of the year.
In a recent presentation to City Council, Bryant Poole, district engineer for the Georgia Department of Transportation, attributed the delay to frequent and heavy rains, as well as unexpected utility-related problems.
He said the widening of the McGinnis Ferry Road bridge over the Chattahoochee River is set to be finished by April 2012. McGinnis Ferry was a two-lane road; when construction is completed, it will have four lanes, vastly improving its capacity. The 5.24-mile, $40 million project will include sidewalks, and raised medians for safety.
By mid-March, crews plan to start adding a turn lane so eastbound traffic on McGinnis Ferry can turn right (south) onto Hospital Parkway. Johns Creek Public Works Director Ken Hildebrandt said the turn lane should relieve – but not eliminate – much of the eastbound back-up on McGinnis Ferry Road.
About the same time but on the other end of the project, traffic in both directions will shift from the old portion of McGinnis Ferry Road onto newly constructed lanes starting just west of the Chattahoochee River to just west of the Forsyth County soccer fields. At that point, traffic will return to the old lanes.
The shift will allow crews to rebuild the older part of the roadway.
The majority of work over the next two to three months will occur on the project's eastern end near the river. No work will take place on the Sargent Road side of the project until May or June due to extremely wet conditions in the area.
Grading and placement of storm drain continues at various other locations on the project.