Median Coming on Indian Trail

There will soon be a median on Indian Trail Road from Beaver Ruin Road to Oakbrook Parkway. The purpose of the project is to ease up the traffic flow at the busy I-85 on ramp and beautify the area, while also improving safety because people will not have to jut across traffic to make a left-hand turn.

“Any time you drive down that corridor at peak times, you see the need,” said Chuck Warbington, Executive Director of the Gwinnett Village CID, which is heading up the project.

The project is currently underway and will likely wrap up by the end of the summer. 

The landscaped median will look similar to the current medians on Beaver Ruin Road, with low-lying plants and annuals planted in the raised concrete medians.

The intersection at Brook Hollow Parkway will also get an upgrade as part of the project, adding another additional turn lanes at Indian Trail and also another turn lane for those getting onto I-85 north.

The total cost of the project will be about $1.5 million, according to Warbington. The county contributed $700,000 to $800,000. The part of the project leading up to the I-85 on-ramp is inside the City of Norcross limits, so the city put up $100,000 for the project. The CID will contribute the rest of the funds.

The project ends at because that is all that budgets will allow at this time, but Warbington said that they would like to see the median extended at a later date. 

Businesses have traditionally not been fans of medians, citing difficulty accessing their business as a reason. Warbington said that he has weighed those concerns in this case, even meeting with business owners on site during peak traffic hours. He said that the businesses saw that cars were simply not turning left into businesses because of the stopped traffic.

“It is also interesting that all of the businesses already have back access through another road,” he said. He hopes that the multiple points of entry would mitigate any impact on the businesses as well.