Community Corner

Indian Trail Median Upsets Residents

The residents in Country Place Condominiums say they're having issues entering and exiting their neighborhood.

The residents of Country Place Condominiums believe their safety is being compromised by the construction of a median along Indian Trail Road.

, red construction cones have lined Indian Trail from to Beaver Ruin Road for a geared by the Gwinnett Village CID. The project aims to build a median and sidewalks with landscaping to beautify the roads and allow safer driving along Indian Trail.

Country Place residents disagree, saying it will only cause more accidents.

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With the construction of the median, left turns would not be possible into Country Place, which has an entrance on Indian Trail near Beaver Ruin Road. The next best option for drivers is to make a U-turn at the Beaver Ruin light.

U-turns are problematic because of cars making a right turn from Beaver Ruin onto Indian Trail, said Country Place resident Brandy Gibboney. Many residents believe it's too risky, so they drive an additional 1.5 miles out of the way to avoid making a U-turn there.

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To help improve safety, said Gwinnett Village CID Program Director John McHenry, an additional lane would be added to Indian Trail as a "keep moving" right-turn lane. McHenry said the third lane would cause less issues because of the additional pavement for U-turns.

Furthermore, the "keeping moving" status wouldn't always give those drivers the right of way. McHenry noted that the cars turning right would have to yield to those making a U-turn when they have a green light for a left turn.

"But they're not required to stop," Gibboney pointed out. "When we have our green light on Indian Trail to make that U-turn, those people will still be coming at us constantly."

Gibboney added that it's 358 feet from the turn to the neighborhood entrance.

To compromise, Gibboney and other Country Place residents have proposed a "no right turn on red" sign so that it's safer for making U-turns.

McHenry said they've brought the idea to the engineering firm and are currently exploring it. Initially, though, the no-turn is believed to cause more traffic to the already congested area.

Gibboney also claimed that many residents weren't notified of the project, even though the concept has been on the drawing board for at least two years.

"I'm kind of getting the feeling that our neighborhood is not very important even though it's been there for 25 years," said Gibboney, who's been a resident at Country Place for almost seven years.

McHenry said, though, that notices were sent out to residents and businesses in the corridor, and community leaders and homeowners associations have been in the loop since the median concept started in March 2010, when the CID started holding public information meetings on the project.

"This isn't like, 'Oh, I want to put a median here,'" said McHenry. "It's because of the national progression of this corridor that's got a lot of businesses on it that's experiencing a lot of traffic."

Statistically, McHenry said, medians reduce traffic by 55 percent, and it decreases T-bone and car-pedestrian accidents.

Construction for the median should be completed in a few weeks. If the neighborhood's request for a "no right turn on red" proposal does not go through, Gibboney has contacted property lawyers to follow-up.

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