Gwinnett County officials have talked about extending Sugarloaf Parkway northward to the Buford area for years, but they are also looking to make an existing part of the roadway a little wider.
County commissioners voted on Tuesday to approve an agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation to outline the framework for coming up with plans and a scope to widen part of Sugarloaf. The portion in question is located between Old Norcross Road and Scenic Highway.
Gwinnett Transportation Director Lewis Cooksey told he Daily Post the planning and scoping is expected to take about nine months to a year to complete and will determine how much widening will take place.
“This is the first step, so this is just the beginning whereby we will study, we will gather traffic data, we will look at the existing right-of-way, roadway configuration, and put together a planning document that would outline how it can be improved in the future,” Cooksey said.
“(The number of lanes to be added) would be determined by the study, through the feasibility study and scoping.”
Georgia DOT would contribute $750,000 to develop plans and a scope for the widening project while the county would contribute an additional $187,500. The county’s portion would be paid using 2017 special purpose local option sales tax funds.
Sugarloaf was extended to the Dacula area about a decade ago, and another extension to Buford is in the engineering stage. It has been decades, however, since the portion of Sugarloaf Parkway that is being looked at now was last widened, according to Cooksey.
In fact, Bill Clinton was president of the United States the last time a major upgrade was done on that portion of the roadway. That project widened Sugarloaf, between Scenic Highway and Old Norcross Road, to two thru lanes in each direction with turn lanes.
“This section of Sugarloaf…
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