The Georgia Department of Transportation intends to activate the new traffic signals at the Denmark intersection on Georgia Highway 67 in southeastern Bulloch County this Wednesday, Dec. 21, by midday, weather permitting.
As of a news release issued Thursday by Georgia DOT District 5 Communications Officer Jill Nagel, the project contractor had installed the signal lights and bagged them to show they were not yet in use. Message boards have also been placed near the intersection this week to alert drivers on the highway and on Brooklet-Denmark and Nevils-Denmark Roads of the new traffic signal system and its activation date.
“While not expected to be in service for the Wednesday morning commute, the signal should be fully functional by midday, weather permitting,” Nagel wrote. “Local law enforcement will handle traffic control during activations.”
The newly signalized intersection also features pedestrian crosswalks and flashing yellow arrows in the left-turn lanes “to enhance safety and optimize operational efficiency,” she noted.
Recent fatality
During and since the 2018-2020 widening of Highway 67 to four lanes, dozens of wrecks, at least two of them fatal, have occurred at the intersection. Stop signs on Brooklet-Denmark and Nevils-Denmark Roads were previously the only traffic controls.
The most recent fatal accident occurred there in the early afternoon of Nov. 17. According to the Georgia State Patrol, an older model Jeep Cherokee occupied by Larry and Diane Sharpe of the Nevils community stopped at the intersection on Brooklet-Denmark Road but then pulled out in front of a Nissan sedan traveling south on Highway 67.
After the Jeep overturned in the collision, witnesses saw smoke coming from inside it, and several took heroic action to extinguish the flames and attempt to free the couple. These Good Samaritans along with a State Patrol sergeant who arrived on the scene successfully removed the Sharpes from the Jeep.
But Diane Sharpe, 77, had suffered significant burns and, after being transported to Doctors Hospital in Augusta, died of acute cardiac arrest due to shock, the Bulloch County coroner reported.
A Georgia Department of Transportation traffic study performed after all lanes were opened in 2020 indicated a need for full traffic signals. The Georgia DOT in May 2021 announced negotiations with Reeves Construction, general contractor on the previous $41 million, 10-mile widening project, to handle the intersection improvements and have the signals installed as an addition to the original contract.
Repeated studies
Studies of the intersection had also been conducted in 2017 and 2019, but DOT officials in those years determined that it did not meet the threshold for a traffic signal. In fall 2020, Bulloch County Board of Commissioners Chairman Roy Thompson stated that the widening project was likely to make the intersection more dangerous in the absence of a traffic light, and he and state Rep. Jan Tankersley, R-Brooklet, District 160, urged the DOT to expedite plans for a new study.
Tankersley at that time said that entering or crossing the intersection was “scary” because of a slight hill that prevented seeing fast-oncoming cars in time.
Records the Statesboro Herald obtained that fall from Georgia State Patrol Post 45 showed that troopers investigated 31 accidents at the intersection between Aug. 31, 2018 and Aug, 31, 2020.
One of those earlier crashes was also fatal. Statesboro resident Danny Tidwell, a choreographer and former contestant on the television competition show “So You Think You Can Dance,” died as a result of a two-vehicle accident at the intersection March 6, 2020.
After an initial delay in the traffic signal installation because of the discovery of some unknown utility lines, the Georgia DOT projected that the light would be working by mid- to late October, but ran into another delay.
The reported completion date for the DOT contract is actually Dec. 31, 2022, so the light is now slated to “go live” 10 days before that deadline.
“Motorists are always advised to proceed cautiously through intersections, but most certainly so next week during activation and the days to follow as drivers become acclimated to the new signal,” Nagel wrote.
GDOT advisory
The release also carried an advisory that the exact time of the signal activation may change due to weather conditions. “Motorists are advised to expect delays, exercise caution, and reduce their speed while traveling through work zones, stay alert, and watch for workers,” it stated.
To find real-time information provided by the Georgia DOT on work status and traffic conditions, call 511, visit 511ga.org, or download the Georgia 511 app.