Georgia DOT

Published on: April 30, 2009

After Near Miss at Atlanta Bus Accident Site, DOT Begins work on HOV Exit

But for good fortune, it would have been a repeat of the tragic Bluffton bus accident in Atlanta that killed seven people in 2007. A group of students from Michigan escaped serious injuries when their bus driver almost made the same mistake that the Bluffton University bus driver did.

The students who were on their way from Michigan to Orlando were traveling in two buses. The driver of the first bus mistook the exit ramp for a through lane, and just managed to stop in time to avoid a potentially serious crash. It was the exact same mistake that the driver of the bus in which several Bluffton University students had been killed two years ago, had made. The near miss has called into question Georgia Department of Transportation’s tardiness in making adequate signage available to warn motorists of the dangerous site.

According to driver Rick Overtein who narrowly avoided an accident, the ramp is still very “deceiving.” Two years after the tragic Bluffton college bus accident, it’s obvious that signage warning drivers on the ramp is still insufficient. After the Bluffton accident, the Georgia Department of Transportation had come in for severe criticism, including sharp words from the National Transportation Safety Board for its failure to install proper signage. The Department of Transportation last week began work on updating the HOV exit, where the Bluffton accident occurred, a full two years later. It will be weeks before the overhead signs come up at the site.

Published on: October 28, 2008

Georgia DOT in Budget Crisis

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A state audit recently revealed that the Georgia DOT (DOT) has a $456 million dollar budget shortfall. The Georgia Constitution does not allow a state agency to run a deficit.Thus, the State Board of Transportation has had scramble to cut funding for road projects in 2010.

The DOT is governed by a 13-member State Board of Transportation.The Board decides which public roads will be part of the state highway system, approves long-range construction projects, oversees construction projects and administers lease agreements among other duties.

Audit problems have waylaid the big budget road projects as the DOT faces an $8 billion dollar shortfall over the next six years.If the Georgia Legislature approves the 2010 budget, thirty percent of the state’s main road budget will go for payments on previous road project commitments.Much of the road budget goes to repaving, repairs and maintenance.There will be less money for new construction of highways, safer interchanges, and bridge replacement.

Published on: July 9, 2008

Bus Crash Caused by Faulty DOT Signage

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) met yesterday to review the March 2, 2007 bus crash at Northside Drive and I-75 that killed seven people and injured twenty-eight on-board passengers.The NTSB ruled the cause of the crash to be signage confusion and driver error.The NTSB also attributed the deaths to lack of passenger restraints in the bus.

The crash occurred when the bus driver, traveling southbound on I-75, mistook an HOV exit ramp at Northside Drive for the HOV through lane.The bus was carrying members of Ohio’s Bluffton University baseball team as well as the bus driver and his wife.The driver and his wife were killed in the accident as well as five other team members.All twenty-eight surviving passengers were injured when the bus went off the overhead concrete barrier at Northside Drive and crashed onto the interstate below.

The HOV lanes were added at the time of the summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.Ten years of traffic accidents at this site show a history of confusing signage for motorists.The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) maintains this roadway.