The Gainesville Times is reporting that the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization has moved forward with a plan to connect various parts of northern Hall County. The proposed road would run across Lake Lanier from Thompson Bridge Road to the Cleveland Highway.
Why Is a Northern Connector Needed?
The first reason is that most of the roads in North Hall travel north. For somone wanting to get from the North-East side of Lake Lanier to the North-West, they either need to take back-roads or drive into and then out of Gainesville.
The second is that Hall County expects the current population growth to continue with almost 400,000 people living in the area by 2030. Planners expect traffic on the Cleveland Highway to double in that time and traffic on Thompson Bridge Road to more than treble.
What Routes Are Being Considered?
All the possible routes start on the Dawsonville Highway and pass along Sardis Road to Thompson Bridge. This is where the plans differ. All the routes pass over Lake Lanier and terminate at Mount Vernon Road, but via different paths. Click here to see a map of the routes being considered.
Will the Road Be Built?
Currently it is only in the planning stages. The road could cost over $150 million and that money won't be available for several more years. The problem of many North Georgia roads running on a North-South axis isn't new. There's been a road proposed from Lake Lanier to i75 and even on a large scale, the i3 highway. This is a much less ambitious project but its completion remains years away.
Document from GHMPO
Below is the public document about the plan from the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization:
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