Things are about to get messy on Windy Hill Road.
A $42-million extreme makeover of the corridor funded by sales tax dollars was approved in 2016. Since that time several businesses have been relocated and their former buildings torn down, and an intense reconstruction will begin in earnest in about three months.
The Smyrna City Council approved a $29.6 million construction contract with Baldwin Paving Co. by a 6-1 margin at its Monday night meeting. Susan Wilkinson cast the dissenting vote, and has voted against other aspects of the project that have come before the council.
Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton described the project as “massive,” and said construction will be quite disruptive to traffic once it begins in early summer. He compared it to the situation on Spring Road when it was widened ahead of the construction of the new Atlanta Braves stadium.
“It’ll be a three-year construction time,” said Norton. “You should avoid it at all costs once the construction starts. Remember when they did Spring Road? This will be like 100 times bigger than that.”
Once complete, the north end of the road, previously home to several businesses, will be a linear park, and local traffic will be separated from through traffic, which often consists of drivers from West Cobb and Paulding County heading to Highway 41 or Interstate 75.
“Hopefully everyone who is coming from Paulding will zip right through and we won’t have to worry about it anymore,” Norton said. “It will be transformative for the area.”
Along with separating local vehicles from through traffic, the project aims to improve pedestrian and bicycle facilities and access to transit. The project will affect 1.14 miles of the road and, for through traffic, eliminates several stops at traffic lights.
What’s the area that’s getting renovated? Is it from South Cobb Drive to Atlanta Road? That’s where all the buildings are being torn down. Just double checking. Didn’t want to find out it was another place, too.
So Mr. Mayor. Since we are to avoid Windy Hill “AT ALL COSTS” then by all means please tell us travelers what roads we are to use. Spring Road into Campbell? Haha yeah right. Guess from your comfortable office chair you don’t see, much less experience the daily massive backups that stretch back to McDonald’s and farther, in the afternoon/evenings or way past Nam DE Mun, in the mornings, that already occur for hours on your precious already “redone” Spring Road. So folks add another hour plus to your already too long commute. Keeping building those hundreds of Smyrna townhomes adding hundreds more people to the already OVERCROWDED roads (with or without the Windy Hill project) and keep those coffers full.
It appears that Smyrna by removing the small mostly minority businesses continues to not support diversity. One established small business owner of over 10 years complained of being told where he could relocate but he couldn’t afford the rent in other Smyrna locations. His clientele will have to be rebuilt because they will not travel to Powder Springs or Austel where he has to relocate.