What's Happening in Roswell, GA…

Roswell has realigned a 220-foot section of Oxbo Road, but the small project should help relieve the congestion commonly encountered at Georgia 9 and Oxbo.

The measure will also improve safety, and reinvigorate a whole section of Roswell by giving motorists driving east an access point to Georgia 9. Until the present, Oxbo had only one westbound lane stretching one block west of the state route.

Steve Acenbrak, Roswell’s transportation direction, explained that widening the one westbound lane so that it could also handle eastbound traffic was not an option, since this configuration would have caused a problem for eastbound drivers trying to turn onto Georgia 9. Roswell would also have to have built a retaining wall at the corner, so that drivers could see oncoming traffic.

Instead of building the wall and widening the lane, which might have cost as much as $200,000, Roswell opted to add a parallel lane, running on the south side of the parking lot of Roswell’s First Baptist Church. The city rebuilt the lot so that it had the same number of parking spaces as before construction began.

Roswell spent only $103,000 on the project, since it was able to acquire a lot of the property and the right of way free of charge, or at very low cost.

Cities like these can benefit if they consider working with postcard printing companies, which can create informative cards for drivers in communities where road work is taking place.