Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

On Tuesday, the Troup County Board of Commissioners discussed a request from the Troup County School System to help pay for intersection improvements and deceleration lanes for the new Rosemont school, expected to be open this fall.

When the county approved the construction of the school as a special use in 2021, the board placed conditions on the way entrances would be designed due to traffic concerns in the area.

The new Rosemont school is located adjacent to the current school on Hamilton Road (US 27), with additional road frontage on Rosemont School Road and Burgess Road.

At the time, the county had concerns about a potential entrance to the school on Burgess Road.

“The intersections on either end of Burgess Road are not really optimal,” County Engineer James Emery said. “Those are old intersections. …  So, It’s preferable to design the school site so they would not increase the traffic substantially on Burgess Road.”

The school system has since designed the site to allow for a new, large entrance on US 27, Emery said.

The total cost of the school is expected to be around $41 million, with the estimated cost for the intersection itself at $762,467.47.

The school system asked the Board of Commissioners to provide $200,000 in funding for the project specifically for the construction of that intersection. TCSS has also requested $250,000 from GDOT for the intersection.

The intersection includes a left turn lane off of the highway as well as a right turn lane off the highway, along with multiple lanes coming out of the school.

“It’s a good design. It’s one that will accommodate school traffic very well,” Emery said. “It’s a great improvement to public safety in this area and all of the drivers that drive on the county roads and state highway in this area.”

The plans also include an estimated 300-car-capacity queuing line to keep waiting vehicles off the roads.

The original plans would have required improvements for at least two intersections, which Emery said would have certainly cost more than the current plans.

The commissioners later unanimously approved the funding.