OCONEE 316
Keeping Neighbors Informed
OCONEE 316
Keeping Neighbors Informed
Public Engagement
Large Turnout at GDOT Meeting for SR 316 But Little Information Provided
May 2023
More than 100 people turned out at the Bogart Community Center for what the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) had described as a Town Hall. The meeting was scheduled to start at 4 p.m., and people started crowding into the Community Center by 3:45.
No seating was provided and no one from GDOT gave a presentation. There were nine display boards spread around the room but none of them provided information about what is planned for the intersections. The first Display Board said that said GDOT was conducting a Planning Study of the SR 316 corridor. At the last display board, participants were asked to give their comments. An online survey was available until June 16.
By 5:15 p.m. the room was mostly empty. No public feedback from the study has been provided by GDOT.
Board of Commissioners Update on SR 316 Projects
March 2022
At a Town Hall meeting, Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell gave an overview of the proposed intersection projects along SR 316. Most of his attention was directed toward the Jimmy Daniell Road, Virgil Langford Road, Oconee Connector bundle.
He also noted that work would be starting about the same time on Dials Mill Road and Dials Mill Extension. Referring to GDOT, he said “They haven't quite figured out how that's going to be configured.” It could be a flyover and interchange, but “they might be able to do something a little different.”
GDOT Says Public Outreach Planned for SR 316 Transformation
October 2021
NOTE: The public sessions described here were not held.
The Georgia Department of Transportation announced in October 2021 that it was planning meetings with local officials and the public in spring 2022 to discuss interchange improvements along SR 316 in Oconee County.
Details of the meetings were announced by SueAnne Decker, District preconstruction engineer with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) at a meeting on Oct. 27. Decker said GDOT wanted to “discuss overpasses and interchanges and get any buy in, on the direction that we're going.”
Decker said the plan is to begin with local officials and then shift to the public at large, and she described the initiative as “public outreach” for the SR 316 projects. “I guess the newest update that we have is we're working on a public outreach for all of 316, presenting it as a corridor,” Decker said.
Katina Lear, assistant director of Strategic Communications at GDOT, indicated on Oct. 28 that “The Department at this point in time plans on going out to the local officials and members of the public in the Spring of 2022.”
Bogart Leadership Input:
Council Member John Larkin has been handling the city’s interactions with GDOT regarding the SR 316 improvements. Larkin indicated he had talked to GDOT officials in August or September 2021 and had followed up with letters to Jamie Boswell from the State Transportation Board and state Representative Houston Gaines regarding the intersection improvements.
In both letters, Larkin said that not having a full interchange providing easy access to Bogart “will cause a major disruption” to the city. Larkin said “the most direct route to our town will be to have an intersection at McNutt Creek (Road) to allow a straight path to the heart of the City.”
“The next best option is to have an interchange at Dials Mill Road,” he wrote.
In both letters, Larkin asked that the message be relayed to Georgia Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry.
