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Lane shift under way
Next stage on Hwy. 141 will affect Big Creek
141 rebuild 2 jd
Javier Vega with CW Matthews Contracting Co. moves barrels blocking Hwy. 141 as traffic shifts to a new section of road Tuesday. - photo by Jim Dean (previous profile)
There’s no end date in sight, but work continues this week on Hwy. 141 between Sharon Road and Ronald Reagan Boulevard.

Both directions of traffic along the highway are being “shifted onto the two newly built lanes so we can upgrade the old lanes of Hwy. 141,” said Teri Pope, spokeswoman for the state transportation department.

“This will also allow us to work at Hwy. 141 and Majors Road because there is major work that needs to be done there.”

Begun in 2006, the $50.7 million project to widen Hwy. 141 to four lanes between Hwy. 9 and the Fulton County line is 67 percent complete.

Construction will continue daily, with the exception of the July Fourth holiday weekend, when it will halt from midnight July 2 to 6 a.m. July 6.

Beginning July 1, Pope said traffic will shift to the right side of the highway, from just south of Callaway Court to north of Old Alpharetta Road.

The construction will affect Big Creek Elementary, though Pope said the goal is to upgrade the old lanes of Hwy. 141 before students return Aug. 10.

“Even though it’s not all four lanes open, it really will help traffic run a lot smoother,” she said. “Right now, when someone’s waiting to turn left, they can back up cars 10 to 12 deep because they stop everybody to turn left.

“Once we get traffic split ... those turners are out of the way, both right and left, and you just have through traffic going down Hwy. 141.”

But for a project that once carried a July 31 completion date, that’s not enough for Dan Slott.

The south Forsyth resident drives through the construction daily and is tired of waiting. He wants the entire project finished.

To hasten progress, Slott has started the Get 141 Done PAC and Web site, www.get141done.org. In just two weeks, Slott said he’s received hundreds of signatures on the PAC’s petition.

Slott said he is faxing in the petitions weekly, one page at a time, “so that they garner a little more attention.”

“Our objective, which is to get Hwy. 141 done before school starts on Aug. 10, we certainly understand is an aggressive goal,” he said. “But we’d like to see this project fast tracked, given the length of time it’s been under construction.”

E-mail Jennifer Sami at jennifersami@forsythnews.com.
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