City staff presents feasible cart-path connection between McIntosh High and Booth Middle; DOT input required

City engineers on Feb. 25 presented council members with a feasibility study and conceptual drawings for a cart-path and crossing that would connect McIntosh High School to Booth Middle School, a project the city has been pursuing for several years.

The presentation by Dan Davis of Integrated Science and Engineering outlined multiple alignment options, including bridges, at-grade crossings and tunnels, and identified a preferred bridge alignment west of Robinson Road that ties directly into existing cart-paths and school property with minimal private-yard easements. Davis said the preferred alignment would require an easement across a small, vacant parcel and the acquisition or easement of another parcel owned by the city to achieve American with Disabilities Act (ADA) slopes and daylighting for the route.

The plan matters because the recent construction of Booth Middle School increased demand for a safe, direct route between the buildings. The consultant said the preferred bridge option would tie “real nicely into McIntosh High School” and would connect with existing cart-path infrastructure, avoiding some of the more complex and costly tunnel options that create drainage and maintenance issues.

Councilors and staff discussed constraints the project must address: sight-distance and traffic-signal geometry on Highway 54/Robinson Road, proximity to the Carriage Lane cemetery and associated decorative walls and entry features, and drainage and stormwater-management impacts. Davis said the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) has been “wonderful to work with” but that some earlier alignment options failed DOT sight-distance requirements; that process narrowed alternatives to two viable locations. He also said the reduced posted speed limit on Highway 54 (from 55 to 45 mph) improved roadway clear-zone requirements and reduced the corridor footprint needed for the crossing.

Davis described why tunnels were generally infeasible at this location, citing sag locations that would collect rainwater and require pumping and ongoing maintenance. He said DOT survey work on signal sightlines showed the team must ensure an under-bridge vertical clearance and that truck sight-lines at about 13.5 feet must permit drivers to see traffic signals beneath any bridge — a limiting factor in some earlier options. He estimated the team could provide DOT’s decision on feasibility within 30 days and a 30% design about three months after DOT concurrence.

Council members pressed on safety tradeoffs for at-grade crossings and the need to place any pedestrian signal (HAWK or similar) away from congested turning movements around Stagecoach and Robinson Road. They also raised the project’s relation to prospective school capacity changes: if McIntosh transfers some athletic fields or programs to Booth, cart-path and pedestrian flows could increase in that corridor.

Next steps Davis recommended were continued dialogue with DOT, additional surveying to confirm grades, and advancing the preferred alignment to a 30% design and cost estimate. He said he could return with a DOT determination within two to four weeks and a 30% design in about three months thereafter.

The council did not vote on the concept at the meeting; staff said they will return with a recommended preferred alternative, cost estimate and any necessary easement acquisitions for council consideration.