East Cobb County has been historically known for good schools, good restaurants and high property values. For the foreseeable future, bad traffic might be added to that list.
The “East Cobb Pipeline Project” began last week and until the end of 2017, crews will be working to replace 6.1 miles of pipe impacting traffic along heavily traveled Terrell Mill Road, Powers Ferry Road and Johnson Ferry Road.
The new, larger water pipes will be replacing pipes that are over 50 years old and will meet current and future standards set by the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority.
The first step of the project which is currently underway, starts on Terrell Mill Road north of Haverford Lane and will progress down to Powers Ferry Road. The pipes will be buried 14 feet deep so there is a great deal of work needed to finish the job.
Because of the size and scope of what needs to be accomplished, motorists can expect multiple lane closures along Terrell Mill Road as crews rip up the road, pull up the old pipes and replace them with the new pipes. Traffic will of course suffer. Not only do I expect to see major delays on Terrell Mill Road, I also think extra pressure will be put on Delk Road, Bentley Road and Powers Ferry Road.
The already busy triangle east of Interstate 75, north of Interstate 285 and west of the Chattahoochee River will be a lot busier with such a long and intense project. As a result you might see more commuters actually using I-75 and I-285 as alternate routes to the surface streets. Certainly an odd role reversal.
The second part of the project is set to start in early October and according to the CCMWA will begin on the west side of Powers Ferry Road and will progress west, mostly along Terrell Mill Road, to US 41 also known as Cobb Parkway. Anytime construction runs to or along Cobb Parkway you can expect to see extra delays on US 41 which is the easiest and most used alternate route to I-75.
The final portion of the East Cobb Pipeline project is expected to start in spring 2016 and run until 2017. It will begin at Indian Hills Parkway and Cove Drive, progress west along Lower Roswell Road and stop on Terrell Mill Road just north of Haverford Lane.
Authorities expect the entire project to finish by the end of 2017 and cost $42 million.
The East Cobb Pipeline project has nothing to do with the on-going Braves Stadium project. This project was proposed well before the Braves ballpark was and even with the new stadium, the pipeline project will easily be able to handle the increase water usage. The CCMWA states that even with the one million gallons of water the stadium will require on game days, that is only one percent of the system’s capacity.
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