The Georgia Department of Transportation is currently conducting a “virtual public information open house” for citizens to review and provide feedback on its plan to replace the complex intersection of Fair Road, South Main Street and Brannen Street on Statesboro’s “Blue Mile” with a roundabout.

But the deadline for comments is Tuesday, Oct. 24.

The online platform for the open house, which offers detailed plans for the intersection, is https://main-st-sr-67-brannen-st-roundabout-0016464-gdot.hub.arcgis.com/.

To the GDOT, this is the intersection of State Route 67, which in Statesboro is Fair Road, and U.S. Highway 25/State Route 67 (which is also U.S. 301, and Statesboro’s South Main Street).

The highways currently meet at a notoriously sharp angle, requiring northwest-bound drivers to do some rubbernecking at a stop sign. This occurs a few yards from where East Brannen Street intersects both highways and two sets of railroad tracks cross at street grade, forming an ‘X’ in the pavement. Railroad crossing arms with flashing lights are the only active traffic signals.

“The proposed project would convert the (U.S.  Highways 25 and 301) and SR 67 intersection to a single-lane roundabout to improve both safety and operations,” stated the first line of a two-sentence GDOT project description from a status report from 2021.

An “approved concept report,” on the GDOT website dated Nov. 16, 2022, projects an estimated total cost of a little over $6.6 million for the majority-state-funded roundabout project. The city of Statesboro was expected to foot the bill for right of way acquisition, with some federal or state assistance possible, and the GDOT concept report shows the estimated right of way cost as $935,000.

The GDOT press release on the virtual open house states:
“This project proposes operational improvements by construction of a roundabout to improve safety due to the high number of vehicular crashes and associated operational delays at this location. A roundabout improves safety, reduces speeds and congestion, saves on long-term costs by not requiring the same maintenance and operational costs as traffic signals, and allows for landscaping and beautification.”

Written statements about the project may be submitted to:      

Eric Duff
State Environmental Administrator
Georgia Department of Transportation
600 West Peachtree Street, NW – 16th Floor
Atlanta, Georgia 30308