The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $275,000 contract with WSP, an international professional services company with offices in Kennesaw, for a traffic study of downtown Watkinsville.
Included will be the collection of data on traffic corridors and congestion in the city, including average daily traffic and turning movement counts at key intersections, vehicle classifications, and crash patterns.
The WSP study will include “but not be limited to” the bypass routes linking SR 15 and U.S. 441 south of Watkinsville proposed by consultants for the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
WSP will assess alternative intersection configurations, which may include roundabouts, one-way traffic patterns, restricted crossing U-turns (RCUTs), and a type of three-way road intersection referred to as a seagull intersection.
As the final product, WSP will identify and evaluate “roadway layout alternatives” and estimate costs for those alternatives.
WSP told the county that it is prepared to start work on the study upon receipt of a notice to proceed and that it anticipates that the “majority of work” will be completed before the end of the year.
Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell said on Tuesday that he had hoped to have a joint meeting with the city of Watkinsville the previous day (Oct. 5) but that did not work out, and “as time is of the essence I recommend we move forward with the WSP proposal as presented tonight.”
In other action on Tuesday, the Board approved a $5.3 bid award for the addition of 16 tennis courts at Oconee Veterans Park and approved–in a split vote–a requested rezone of 3.0 acres on Clotfelter Road to allow for two lots of 1.5 acres each.
Traffic Data Focus Of WSP Proposal
At a Public Information Open House in March, GDOT presented maps for three alternate routes for a truck bypass connecting SR 15 south of Watkinsville to U.S. 441, but it did not indicate a preference for any of the routes.
 |
| Screen Shot 10/6/2026 |
At an online meeting in August with local governmental leaders, Rick Strickland, executive vice president for NV5, a national engineering firm with offices in Alpharetta, said a route just south of the city limits of Watkinsville was likely to be the recommended alternative. He also said a fourth route was considered, though in less detail.
NV5 announced in December of 2024 that it was been awarded a $5 million, five-year contract by GDOT to serve as a consultant for the Watkinsville Bypass project.
At that meeting in August, Strickland evaluated each of the projects in terms of the impact they would have on traffic in “downtown Watkinsville.”
State Rep. Eric Gisler, who represents Watkinsville and south Oconee County in House District 121, told the Board of Commissioners in a called Town Hall Meeting on Sept. 15 that he had been able to confirm that the data used by NV5 in assessing each of the alternative did not come from downtown Watkinsville.
NV5 instead had collected data used in the assessment of the four alternative routes from a point on SR 15 just north of the city limits, well before SR 15 intersects with North Main Street and Barnett Shoals Road.
At that Town Hall meeting, all five of the Oconee County commissioners voiced opposition to the NV5 plans, most citing questions about the impact the bypass would have on reducing traffic in downtown Watkinsville and the stating the need for consideration of alternatives, including improvements to intersections in the city.
The bypass came up at a candidate forum held by the Oconee County Farm Bureau on Sept. 23, and Gisler was joined by Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest IV, who is running against Gisler in November, and Republican Marc McMain and Democrat Ray Smith, both seeking to represent Oconee County in state Senate District 46, in opposing the bypass.
Gisler had told the Oconee County commissioners in May that, based on his conversations with GDOT personnel, the agency has funding for the bypass only through right of way purchase, meaning Gisler or Guest, and McMain or Smith, will have to authorize funding to actually build the roadway.
WSP Plan
The county has a contract with WSP for transportation consulting, and the proposal submitted by WSP on July 22 was a Task Order under that contract.
“Historic downtown Watkinsville has limited traffic capacity and insufficient right of way for roadway widening,” WSP wrote in the introduction to it’s proposal.
“A recent GDOT Bypass study identified three alternative routes outside of the city which caused significant concern for Oconee County citizens and leadership,” the statement continued.
“This study will determine interim improvements that would ease traffic congestion in the near future as bypass alternatives are evaluated by GDOT,” according to WSP.
“WSP understands the information that will be most valuable to Oconee County residents and businesses, enabling us to communicate the technical importance of the County’s transportation system clearly and effectively,” WSP wrote.
“This evaluation will identify operational and physical constraints affecting local and through traffic travel, including local commercial businesses and freight generators and destinations with and near the corridor, key truck routes, and locations where freight demand may influence corridor operations,” the introduction to the proposal concludes.
WSP’s Five Tasks
The first task listed in the WSP proposal is Project Management, with the WSP team reviewing “existing plans and policies to ensure consistency with prior efforts and current and future development along the corridor.”
 |
| Gisler Town Hall 9/15/2026 |
“Public outreach is not included in this scope,” the proposal states. “WSP’s project management approach will support clear communication, regular status updates, effective tracking, and a thorough QA/QC process.” QA is for Quality Assurance, and QC is for Quality Control.
Task 2 is Data Collection, with WSP saying it “will implement a comprehensive data collection program to evaluate existing corridor conditions and identify recurring congestion, safety concern, access-related issues, and other factors affecting overall performance in the study area.”
Task 3 will provide an Existing Conditions Assessment, with WSP evaluating the proposed alternatives and “existing traffic conditions” and also documenting “the intersection performance including level-of-services, delays, and volume/capacity (v/c) ratio.”
Task 4 is Traffic Operations and Preliminary Alternatives Analysis.
“This approach will incorporate relevant safety performance measures early in the study to address the needs of all users, including pedestrians and bicyclists,” the proposal states.
Task 5 is Detailed Alternatives Analysis, with WSP developing “conceptual roadway layout alternatives to address issues identified through the existing conditions analysis, traffic operations analysis, and preliminary alternative analysis.”
The deliverable will be a “Final study document with graphics, limited to planning-level concepts and excluding detailed intersection designs or CAD deliverables,” according to the proposal. CAD is Computed Aided Design.
Commission Discussion
After providing an overview of the WSP proposal on Tuesday evening, Daniell said “We were working on a joint meeting with the city. We were hopeful to do that on the 5th of this month,” he said, “but getting everybody's schedules lined up did not prove as easy as one might think.”
 |
| Harden Town Hall 9/15/2026 |
“However, we we're still hoping to having a joint meeting that may come to pass here in the next couple months,” he said, “but as time is of the essence I recommend we move forward with the WSP proposal as presented tonight.”
“How soon will they be able to start?” Commissioner Harden asked.
“Probably within the next couple weeks,” Daniell said.
Daniell also told Harden that WSP will report to Oconee County Director of Planning and Code Enforcement Guy Herring “to start with.” Public Works Director Jody Woodall has left the county.
Herring told Harden that he had reviewed the scope of work in the WSP proposal.
The vote was unanimous. Commissioner Chuck Horton did not attend the meeting.
Zoning Votes
Kirk McClellan was asking the Board to allow him to rezone 3.0 acres he owns at 2251 Clotfelter Road from its current AR (Agricultural Residential) classification to R-1 (Single Family) so he can divide the lot into two equal parts.
 |
| McClellan Planning Commission 9/21/2026 |
The county planning staff had recommended denial of the request, saying that the “The proposed R-1 zoning is not consistent with the low density residential uses in the area.” The Planning Commission on Sept. 21 also recommended denial.
“There is a lot of R1 zoning right around this property,” Jeff Carter, representing McLellan said, “and we feel that this rezone is entirely appropriate given the surrounding area.”
The Planning Staff also had recommended that the two lots share a driveway to reduce conflicts on Clotfelter Road.
Carter objected to that condition, saying “it just makes it less desirable if you're sharing the driveway. And because we have so much frontage, we feel like we should be okay with two driveways.”
McClellan also was seeking a hardship variance to delete the requirement for sidewalks in an R-1 zoning district.
“As far as a sidewalk goes,” Carter said, “we feel like that--we’re not against sidewalks--but in this particular part of the county, it just doesn't seem like it's a good idea to have a sidewalk there and don't feel like anybody's going to be using it.”
Commissioner Mark Thomas made the motion to approve the rezone, without the condition that the driveway be shared. He was joined by Commissioner Mark Saxon, in voting in favor. Commissioner Harden voted against the rezone.
Commissioners Thomas and Saxon approved the hardship variance to eliminate the sidewalk. Commissioner Harden voted against the request.
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve a request by Bethlehem Church to modify the conditions of an existing Special Use approved in 2025 for a Community Scale Church to add two adjacent properties at the Corner of Goat Farm Road and Hog Mountain Road.
Tennis Courts
County Administrator Justin Kirouac told the Board that it previously had approved $5.5 million Guaranteed Maximum Price contract with Headley General Contractor of Newnan for the addition of 16 courts at Oconee Veterans Park, to bring the total to 24.
 |
| Kirouac Commission Meeting 8/4/2026 |
Kirouac asked the Board to approve a modification of that agreement to allocate $5.2 million to Headley and to create a FFE Contingency Budget of $202,271 that allows the county to purchase required items “without going through the contractor for their markup.”
FFE stands for Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment.
“So this all stays within the previously approved budget of $5.5 million budget,” he said. “It's just slicing the two components into the contract.”
Kirouac told the Board construction will start on “Oct. 19 if approved tonight.”
The Board approved the changes unanimously.
Other Action
At the beginning of the meeting, Daniell announced that the Board will hold a Town Hall Meeting focused on the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot at 6 p.m. on Oct. 20 at the county Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
The Board also approved items on its consent agenda from its Sept. 29 meeting.
It approved a contract with St. Mary’s Hospital and Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center that transfers responsibility for 911 emergency medical care and transportation services to the county on Dec. 31.
The Board also approved a contract for $370,000 for renovation and installation of new equestrian, hiking, and bike trails at Heritage Park and adopted a severe weather or other disaster Debris Management Plan.
The Board agreed to spend $4,849 as the county’s share of additional engineering work at the Bear Creek Reservoir in Jackson County and agreed to spend $64,500 for purchase of an additional vehicle for the Sheriff.
Video
The video below is on the county YouTube Channel.
I was not able to attend the Oct. 6 meeting, and most of the still images above are from earlier meetings, including from the Sept. 21 Planning Commission meeting, which I did attend.
The meeting begins at 5:11 in the video below.
The McClellan zoning request begins at 25:25 in the video.
The Bethlehem Church rezone begins at 49:48 in the video.
Discussion of the Oconee Veterans Park tennis courts begins at 55:36 in the video.
Discussion of the WSP contract is at 59:22 in the video.
No comments:
Post a Comment