The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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  • Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen Fort Mountain and North Murray High can be seen from the intersection of Highway 225 and Mt. Carmel Road.

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July 6, 2010

Intersection of Mount Carmel Road gets four-way stop

Rachel Brown Dalton Daily Citizen

DALTON — North Murray High School Principal Maria Bradley will have one less thing to worry about when hundreds of cars, buses and teenage drivers travel Mount Carmel Road this fall.

The main road leading to the new school recently became part of a four-way stop. The intersection of Mount Carmel Road, Mitchell Bridge Road and Ga. Highway 225 has been the site of several fatal wrecks over the last few years, and with the opening of the high school on Mount Carmel Road this fall, the intersection is bound to become even busier.

“We will have approximately 800 students next year with approximately 300 drivers,” Bradley said. “I think (a four-way stop or something similar) has been needed for a long time, and I definitely think it’s needed now with the new school.”

One person was killed in a motorcycle crash when a sport utility vehicle pulling onto Ga. Highway 225 failed to yield to the motorcycle on the highway in 2007. In April, another person was killed and two others airlifted following a wreck at the intersection.

Officials for years have discussed the need to alter the intersection and have mulled over plans ranging from a roundabout to a traffic light to a four-way stop. Georgia Department of Transportation spokesman Mohamed Arafa said the former two-way stop was converted to a four-way stop in early June.

“Of course, we have in the making a project to convert this intersection into a roundabout,” he added. “It’s another traffic control mechanism, but this is down the road.”

Before seriously considering installing a traffic signal, DOT planners ask three basic questions, Arafa said: 1) Will a roundabout be expected to perform better than other alternatives by reducing delay and improving safety? 2) Are factors present to suggest a roundabout would be a more appropriate control mechanism even if delays are slightly longer than with a traffic signal? and 3) Are there any factors related to the topography of the intersection that could not be resolved with a roundabout?

Arafa said the opening of the new school was a factor in getting funding for the four-way stop.

Murray County Schools Superintendent Vickie Reed said the school district initially asked for a traffic light, but a study determined one was not warranted. DOT officials plan to do another study after the school opens to re-evaluate the situation, she said.

Reed said school officials began working on a request for changing the intersection about six months before construction on the school began.

“We were just trying to plan ahead for the construction of the high school,” she said.

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