Bartow Pushes For Traffic Signal At Woodland High School

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- Classes will resume for the Bartow County School System on Tuesday, Aug. 1, and the principal at one of its high schools is lobbying parents to convince the Georgia Department of Transportation to install a traffic signal at its entrance along a major thoroughfare.

Woodland High School Principal Dr. Wes Dickey is asking parents to help him in convincing Georgia DOT to install a traffic signal along Old Alabama Road as part of its overall project to widen the road from two to four lanes.

"As principal I am asking you to help me in my efforts to maintain the safety of all members of our Wildcat Family in the future," he said in a Facebook post. "Please help in this effort as we try and provide the safest opportunity for your child to earn their “23” credits on the way to graduation."

Dr. Dickey told Patch he has a meeting with a Georgia DOT engineer on Wednesday to discuss his request. The principal has been associated with Woodland since it opened in 1997 and when motorists exit the school's top gate located on the easternmost side of the property, the principal notes "it's like playing Russian Roulette."

“You don’t know what’s coming until you’re halfway out in the road," Dr. Dickey said.

The Bartow County School System has been working with Georgia DOT for more than two years to get a light installed at one of the entrances to the school located at 800 Old Alabama Road, said Superintendent Dr. John Harper. Additionally, the speed limit along the road is expected to be increased to 55 miles per hour to accommodate tractor trailers traveling from I-75 to Alabama, he added.

The increased speed limit, Dr. Harper said, would "subsequently present a hazard for the students, staff and community to enter in and exit that school site." At the very least, Bartow County has asked GDOT to include the traffic light that would be fully functional during school arrivals and dismissals, but would flash yellow during all other times.

"I believe it will only be a matter of time that a student will be involved in a fatal accident at that entrance if a light is not included in the widening of that highway," Dr. Harper told Patch.

Dr. Harper as well as a current school board member have also met on-site with a GDOT representative to emphasize the importance of installing a traffic signal. He pointed to previous actions where signals were recently installed, such as at the entrance for Starbucks at Kroger on Main Street in Cartersville and along S.R. 140 from Adairsville to S.R. 53 in Gordon County to accommodate traffic going to and from Lowe’s distribution center and Shaw Industries' carpet plant.

He also said a traffic signal is currently in place at the entrance to Guyton Industrial Park as well as in front of Rockmart High School, which is located along a four-lane highway.

"DOT needs to provide all the safeguards possible for our Woodland family when widening Old Alabama highway in front of Woodland High School," he added. "Safety and security of our students and staff is a primary function of the Bartow County Board of Education."

While that stretch of Old Alabama Road is part of the widening project, a traffic study conducted at intersections along the highway -- including at the Woodland entrance -- did not warrant the installation of traffic signals, said GDOT spokesperson Mohamed Arafa.

However, that does not mean the state is giving up on making sure the road is safe for all motorists.

Arafa notes the state will roll out other enhancement measures, such as implementing a school zone with a speed limit reduction as well as lowering the hill at the location to improve sight distance.

Traffic signals, he went on to say, have been used over the course of many decades to control traffic flow, an initiative that's provided engineers with the opportunity to study their positive and negative impacts, identify when they should be installed and determine how they should be operated.

Federal and state standards have also been created to "provide uniformity and maximum benefit to the public" when determining if a stop and go traffic signal is warranted at any particular intersection.

"Meanwhile, the road and driveway are being reconstructed in a manner that would make a future traffic signal installation easy and low cost if the traffic volumes and patterns change in a way that make a traffic signal warranted," Arafa added.

Dr. Dickey said that while it's "great" that GDOT will be lowering the hill to improve the sign distance at the location, he noted he would prefer a fully functioning signal that could be set to green as a default, but would be triggered to change when a motorists pulls up at the intersection to exit the school property.

The principal said many high school students are bombarded with distractions that could prevent them from graduating, and the least public agencies can do is to ensure they have a safe opportunity enter and exit school campuses.

If Georgia DOT does not reverse its stance, Dr. Dickey said he believes it will only be a matter of time when he and others will have to dedicate the intersection in memory of a student who is killed in a fatal collision at the site.

“I just have a bad feeling that without a traffic light, it’s just a matter of time," he added.

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