Canton OKs Contract for Intersection Improvement Project

The city of Canton has taken another step toward starting improvements to the intersection of Highway 140 and Reinhardt College Parkway.

The Canton City Council unanimously voted June 6 to award a $78,391.47 task order to Michael Baker International for project design services at the intersection of Reinhardt College Parkway and Highway 140.

The plan for this intersection is to convert it into a multi-lane roundabout, according to the city.

This task order, which will be paid for mostly with federal funding, serves as a continuation of work currently going on at this intersection. This is the sixth task order for the project.

The order includes completing the second phase of an environmental site assessment at three locations: Johnson’s Mini Market, Mill Street Market, M4J Transmissions LLC, G.W. Auto LLC and Cherokee Muffler Center.

The city council unanimously voted April 18 to apply for $6.1 million in federal funds through the Atlanta Regional Commission for right-of-way, engineering and site work related to the intersection improvements. The ARC has already approved $3.1 million in federal funds for this project. The evaluation period for the ARC funding lasts through July, with initial recommendations expected to begin in August, according to the ARC website.

The project is expected to be 80% paid for using federal funds, with a 20% city match. According to City Engineer Bethany Watson, 34.2% of the city match can be paid for with impact fees, with the rest paid using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

In November, the council awarded a $413,909 task order to Michael Baker International for project design services for improvements to the intersection. This task order included developing preliminary plans, utility coordination, Phase 1 of environmental site assessment and stormwater management.

This project is scheduled to begin construction in 2026.

Canton completed a traffic study along the Highway 140 corridor from Riverstone Parkway to Laurel Canyon Parkway and Great Sky Parkway, which showed that improvements were needed to increase the capacity of the corridor, alleviate traffic congestion, and create a safer route for all residents, according to city documents.