SR 196 / SR 119 / EG Miles Parkway Corridor Study

The Hinesville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (HAMPO) conducted a study of EG Miles Pkwy from Airport Road/15th Street to General Screven Way. The study area is divided into two priority areas, Area 1 from Veterans Parkway to General Screven Way, and Area 2 from Airport Rd/15th St to Veterans Pkwy.

Both study areas experience higher than average crash rates, especially rear end crashes. Many corridor segments have twice the statewide average crash rate for similar roadways. Crashes in the last five years have resulted in pedestrian fatalities. A Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) Road Safety Audit established the need for safety improvements in 2017. For these reasons, safety improvements are a primary recommendation for the study area.

The corridor is a bus route, and serves Liberty Regional Medical Center, the Public Works Office, and both commercial and residential developments.

The study’s goals were to:
·Propose projects that improve operations, safety, and quality of life
·Identify implementable solutions and funding sources
·Address access challenges
·Enhance safety for people on foot and on bicycles
·Recommend projects that represent the interests of stakeholders and the public

The final report on the EG Miles Corridor study is below.  Due to the large file size, the report is divided into sections.

Background

This corridor serves the primary entrance for the Liberty Regional Medical Center, commercial shopping plazas, residential subdivisions, the headquarters for City of Hinesville Public Works Department and Liberty Transit and is located 1 mile from Fort Stewart Military Installation’s main access gate. The corridor carries between 17,000 – 21,700  annual average daily traffic (AADT) with numerous at grade intersections and commercial drives, and cross sections varying between 4 lanes with unchannelized medians and 4 lanes with no median infrastructure.

The 2045 HAMPO Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) was adopted in October 2020 and identified this roadway as a high crash corridor, as well as an area targeted for substantial land development. Three capacity, safety, and freight supportive operational enhancement projects were recommended by the MTP as high priorities for the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) region. In addition, a local TSPLOST referendum was successfully passed for Liberty County in 2020 and identified this corridor as a key location for investment of 30% STIP eligible funding. Since the adoption of the MTP, GDOT District 4 performed a signal warrants analysis within this corridor and determined that operational improvements to facilitate existing AADT volumes were needed, while also recommending that a safety analysis be performed for the entire corridor. A coordination meeting was held with local and state elected officials, GDOT partners, industry experts, and local MPO leadership, where consensus was reached that a comprehensive corridor analysis was needed to understand existing and future transportation issues and how best to utilize the various public and private transportation funds available for capital improvements for the corridor.   This corridor study received $200,000 in funded from the Georgia Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (GAMPO).