In its successful bid to rezone the 11.68-acre site on the north side of Browns Bridge Road, Mincey Marble has submitted an application to the Georgia Department of Transportaton to add two center turning lanes for trucks to cross Browns Bridge in order to enter the existing and proposed new plant.

The plans submitted by Mincey Marble for the existing plant show 669 trips per day entering and exiting the plant. For the proposed 100,000-square-foot proposed plant, 382 trips per day.

On numerous occasions, the Browns Bridge Residents Coalition has requested to meet with DOT on site to review the situation; each time Georgia DOT has refused to meet with residents who will be impacted by this request.

Safety and liability should be of paramount concern. It is only 450 feet to the east and 640 feet to west from two “blind” spots on this well-traveled road. These blind spots create an unsafe condition and puts travelers at high risk. At the posted speed limit of 45 mph it will take only seven and 10 seconds respectively for traffic to safely stop before approaching a truck turning in the middle of this busy highway. That’s certainly not ample time at the posted speed limit, although we know that many drive faster than that.

This represents a significant increase in traffic on Browns Bridge Road over the last count of 1,082 average daily traffic counts related to truck traffic alone. This proposal will also create a substantial degree of cross traffic between the two facilities (the existing plant on the south side of Browns Bridge and the proposed plant on the north side) which equals 263 trips per day that do not occur today.

These facts are misleading. The traffic will occur principally over a 10-hour operating time frame between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., which will actually render the impact more severe: 19 new trips and 26 trips related to cross traffic per hour.

Per the DOT Driveway Manual, these statistics warrant a traffic study. Yet Georgia DOT refuses to meet with those who will be impacted by this proposal. Why?

Lewis Miller
Browns Bridge Residents Coalition

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