At last Tuesday’s meeting of the the Cobb County Board of Commissioners the commissioners unanimously approved additional funding for design services for Phase 3 of the South Barrett Reliever.

According to the agenda item, there is no funding impact, as needed funds can be transferred within the existing SPLOST budget for the project.

The request from Cobb DOT Director Drew Raessler stated, “An amount not to exceed $231,816.96, is requested for additional engineering design for increased costs associated with the design of a detention pond at Ocean Shiloh Valley Apartments and for additional design services, as may be needed throughout the construction phase.”

The project is in the Town Center Community Improvement District, and is an approved thoroughfare and mobility improvements project in the 2016 SPLOST Transportation Improvements Program (TIP).

The TCCID’s brochure for the project describes it as follows:

The South Barrett Reliever is a road realignment project to give drivers an alternate route around Barrett Parkway, one of the busiest corridors in Town Center. In Phase 3, the roadway will continue from where Phase 2 ended, then reach across I-75 and the Managed Lanes and extend to Barrett Parkway via Roberts Court.

The project was the result of the CID’s Barrett Parkway Reliever studies (which was also the catalyst for the Big Shanty Connector). This stretch is part of a four-phase initiative to form a new southern bypass from Cobb Parkway and Greers Chapel Road to Chastain Meadows Parkway, crossing both I-75 and I-575.

The agenda packet for the Cobb BOC meeting describes Phase 3 of the project as follows:

South Barrett Reliever, Phase 3, consists of the extension and widening of Shiloh Valley Drive/Greers Chapel Drive across I-75, terminating at the intersection of Roberts Court and Barrett Parkway. Proposed improvements include construction of a bridge with no interstate access over I-75, and the addition of a roundabout at Greers Chapel Drive and Roberts Court. The total project length of Phase 3 is approximately 0.81 miles.