HART COUNTY, GA - The Hart County Board of Commissioners has placed road safety as a high priority, according to the Hart County website. In 2008, several hundred thousands of dollars will be spent on improving the safety of county roads.

This is the plan of action for road safety improvements in 2008.

Bridges

The Hart County Board of Commissioners is currently revising the 5 year bridge maintenance program. This plan will include proposed addition of guardrail and other safety features to our bridge structures as well as structural improvements to the bridges. Please see our website for more information: http://www.hartcountyga.org/roads.htm

Vegetation control

Removal of road side vegetation is an important component of the Hart County Board of Commissioners 2008 road safety improvement program. This includes “clipping” (removal of shoulder vegetation and buildup) of the road shoulders and clearing debris from roadside pipes and ditches. This allows water to quickly leave the road surface and prevent the very dangerous ponding of water during rain storms that can result in a loss of vehicle control (hydroplaning).

A second initiative is to purchase our own equipment and increase our personnel to perform our own cutting of the vegetation on our county roads. Almost 10 years ago the county sold our bush hogging equipment and contracted with private firms for cutting our roadside vegetation. In order to do this the County had to limit the amount of roadside vegetation that was cut. As a result of this, the roadside vegetation has grown closer to the roads and is blocking several road intersections.

This year the Hart County BOC will reverse that by having our own roads department roadside vegetation control. The initial focus will be to cut vegetation that is blocking road intersections so that the traveling public can have improved sight distance. We will also be cutting the vegetation back from the roadway. It is anticipated that it will take several years to get the vegetation cut completely back from the roads.

In addition (proposed) the BOC will have their own roadside grass cutting crew. This will allow much more flexibility in grass cutting. We plan to schedule for more intensive cutting of the grass on our major roads. This will prevent or minimize the past experience of high grass during the spring and early summer which blocks road sight distance. We will be cutting our less traveled roads on a less frequent basis as in the past few years.

2008 Road Safety Grant:

The Hart County Board of Commissioners in a joint partnership with the City of Hartwell has secured almost a quarter of a million dollars in funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation for road safety improvements on the following roads. This program will install new signs, paints, rumble strips, raised pavement markers (reflectors in the road) and other improvements. (The improvements vary per road.)

Ankerich rd., Airline Goldmine Rd., B. Bailey Rd., Blackmon rd., Boleman Hill rd., Beaverdam Farm Rd., Bethany Bowersville Rd., Clay Brown Rd., Craft rd., Eagle Grove School Rd., Elrod Ferry Rd., Flat Rock rd., Goldmine Holly Springs Rd., Grace Baptist Church Rd., Hart State Park Rd., Hodges Mill rd., Junction 77 Rd., Lankford Rd., Maxwell Mill rd, Memorial Rd., Methodist Park Ln., Montevideo Rd., Mount Olivet Rd., Mt. Hebron rd., Nancy Hart School Rd., New hope rd., New Prospect Rd., Old 29 rd., Old Henry's Church Rd., Reed rd., Reed Creek School rd., Rice Mill Rd., Rock Springs Rd., Rocky Ford Rd., Shoal Creek Rd., Twin Branch rd., Vanna Rd.

Additional Roads for Safety Improvements:

These roads below will also receive more intensive road safety improvements including painting and raised pavement markers.

Additional Stripping:

The following roads are to be painted with new road paint:

Adams Town Rd., Bailey Rd., Bakers Bridge Rd., Bass Rd. , Carrie Craft, Chandlers Ferry Rd., Clay street, Crumps Rd., Elizabeth Rd., Flat Rock Rd. pt1., Gilliam Rd., Greenway Upholstery Rd., Hanley Rd., Harbor Light Marina rd, John Fleming Rd., Liberty Hill Church Rd., Liberty Hill Rd. pt 3 (from. SB White rd to end), Milltown Rd., Moon Rd., Old Canon Church Rd., Old Elbert Rd., Parkdale Dr., Parkertown Rd., Robert Reid Rd., Seed Cleaner Rd., Speedway Rd. pt2, St James Rd. pt2., (Bass rd to Turner rd.), St John CME Church Rd., Sunset Rd., Turner Rd., Walters Rd., Yacht Club Rd., Zion CME Ch. Rd.