WEST FORSYTH — The state Department of Transportation will present the results of its analysis of ways to improve a 24-mile stretch of Hwy. 20 west of Cumming at two open houses next month.

The meetings are set for 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 15 at Calvary Baptist Church, 137 Hightower Road (Hwy. 369) in Ball Ground, and Sept. 17 at Otwell Middle School, 605 Tribble Gap Road, in Cumming.

Included in the information presented will be an explanation of the alternatives no longer under consideration and reviews of those recommended for additional study.

The route, which has become a major east-west thoroughfare for the northern edge of metro Atlanta, has stirred concerns from residents and the commuting public over “congestion, limited mobility and safety issues.”

According to the DOT, there are three viable options for improving the heavily traveled expanse between Interstate 575 in Canton to Ga. 400 in Cumming.

Still on the table are options to simply leave the highway as is, to widen the existing road or to proceed with a combination of widening and creating localized bypasses around more heavily developed segments.

At the beginning of August, the DOT eliminated alternatives that called for the creation of northern and/or southern routes on either side of the existing highway.

The process began in 2007, when the DOT announced a plan to widen Hwy. 20 that included three separate projects to begin as federal funding became available.

Six years later, that approach was nixed in favor of a single, regional project spanning the 24-mile stretch.

Next month’s meetings will mark the third round of public information open house sessions on the issue since 2013.

And after these meetings, actual construction still may be a few years away.

Under federal law, an environmental impact statement is the highest level of environmental processes that must be conducted. And it must be completed for the entire corridor before any segment can advance.

This project remains separate from the widening of 7.5 miles of Hwy. 20 east of Cumming, between Samples Road in east Forsyth and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Gwinnett County.

That effort, which includes new bridges over the Chattahoochee River, is well under way.