Mountain Road Safety Issue Addressed

Date: April 5, 2007

United States Department of the Interior

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

905 Kennesaw Mountain Drive

Kennesaw, GA 30152

[phone]

[phone] FAX

March 27, 2007

Mountain Road User,

The park conducted a second public meeting last evening to review and distribute draft management alternatives for the mountain road to address critical safety issues involving its mixed use by pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists. The attached draft alternatives for managing the mountain road within Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park represent ideas presented by professional highway engineers and transportation planners, park staff, park partners and stakeholders, and park visitors. The park seeks written comments on these alternatives from the public, and will consider and evaluate these comments within the framework of the park's legislated purpose and NPS management policies. Any management solution must continue to allow vehicular access to the top of Kennesaw Mountain for interpretive purposes, and must provide for visitor safety.

The park will receive written comments addressing the alternatives during a 30 day public comment period from March 27, 2007 through April 25, 2007. These comments can be dropped off at the park visitor center or mailed to the park at:

Attn: Mountain Road Comments

Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive

Kennesaw, GA 30152

Comments may also be emailed to the park at:

Email address: [e-mail]

Subject line: Mountain Road Comments

Those submitting comments should include personal contact information with their comments; email addresses are preferable. Following the public comment period the park will evaluate and respond to all comments received. Similar comments will be grouped together for a single response. The park intends to complete all comment responses by August 31, 2007.

The University of Georgia, Warnell School of Forestry, is conducting a visitor study to obtain additional social science data on the mountain road safety concerns. This study began in January 2007 and will continue through August 2007 in order to compile a more complete data set that includes those who visit the park seasonally or are from outside the area and unable to attend the public meetings. When the park receives the compiled results and conclusions from UGA, this data will be evaluated along with all public comments received.

If the public comments and UGA visitor study indicate that the draft alternatives have adequately addressed the practical range of alternatives, the park will identify a preferred alternative for implementation. If it becomes apparent that additional alternatives need to be considered or that the draft alternatives need further refinement, a revised set of alternatives will be developed and the public comment process repeated. Once a preferred alternative is selected, if it involves substantial cost or time to implement, short-range options will be identified that can provide a measure of improved safety until the final management solution is implemented.

During the intervening months prior to selection of a preferred alternative, the park will continue to allow mixed use of the mountain road by private vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. The park will implement the following measures to help improve safety:

· Post additional signs instructing pedestrians to stay left going uphill and stay right going downhill.

· Post speed limit advisory signs at specified curves.

· Place radar activated speed display device when available from the County.

· Increase patrol and enforcement as staffing permits, focused during heavier use times, to educate mountain road users of the laws: i.e. bicyclists and motorists must comply with the posted speed limit; pedestrians are required to walk on the road shoulder where it exists and to the far edge of the pavement where there is no road shoulder.

· Bicyclists determined to be exceeding the speed limit will be issued a citation for a mandatory appearance in Federal court, and their bicycle seized as evidence until the court date.

· Pedestrians unable to comply with the law (ex. groups not intending to walk single file, those with pets and strollers) will be redirected to the foot trail or multi-use trail.

Thank you again for your cooperation and participation.

Sincerely,

Daniel R. Brown

Superintendent

***For a complete list of Alternatives, please refer to the Management section of the website.***