St. Simons Island Gateway Traffic Study

Glynn County

DATE OF SERVICES: August 2021 – September 2021

PROJECT STATUS: Complete

ROLE OF FIRM:Glynn County Recreation and Parks Department - Rec1

  • Traffic Engineering Services
  • Concept Development

PROJECT TEAM:     

  • Ben Pierce – Senior Project Manager
  • Burke Murph – Quality Control
  • Barrett Neal – Assistant Project Manager
  • Cohen Carpenter – Regulatory Compliance

CLIENT:  Glynn County

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The Gateway onto St. Simons Island is one of the primary locations in Glynn County (County) that traffic congestion is expected during morning and afternoon commute times. Often traffic backups can be seen far down Demere Road, Kings Way, and the FJ Torras Causeway. This congestion is due in large part to the increase in travel demand and the lack of adequate infrastructure to serve that demand. The County contracted with GWES to investigate concepts of infrastructure and intersection improvements to help ease this congestion.

GWES developed initial draft layouts of five concepts as outlined below. GWES submitted a Draft Concept Plan Package for County staff review and acceptance. An Initial Concept Development meeting was held with County staff to discuss the Draft Concept Plan Package. This package included a planning level layout of the improvement overlaid on aerial photography. The County is moving forward with a Final Concept Plan Package that will include a traffic impact report, probable impacts to jurisdictional areas, tree canopy, neighboring properties, underground and overhead utilities, and an opinion of probable cost for design and construction.

The following list summarizes these concepts:

  • Roundabout Improvements (Bob Torras concept)
  • Kings Way Flyover
  • Demere Road Flyover
  • Additional Lanes
  • Roundabout Improvements (Gateway consolidation)