About 50 Smyrna residents attended a two-hour meeting to express their concerns about heavy traffic due to the new SunTrust Park opening.
The meeting was hosted by Commissioner Bob Ott.
The Marietta Daily Journal reports that the town hall meeting, which was held Thursday, had dozens of residents made up of candidates in the race for Cobb State Court and county staff.
“Cynthia Laurens, a Smyrna resident who works in marketing, questioned the plan for Cumberland’s core area and how development in the area will affect the flow of traffic now that the Atlanta Braves are building their new ballpark there,” the article reads. “Ott said about 6,000 residential units are planned for the area, which could reduce the number of people driving to the stadium from other areas of the county and state.”
According to the MDJ, Ott said The Battery Atlanta, the mixed-use development under construction adjacent to the stadium, will give people the opportunity to stay longer before and after ballgames, which will likely stagger the traffic and ease some of the expected congestion.
One Smyrna resident reportedly asked for Ott’s thoughts about the $10 million Interstate 285 bridge that will connect the Cobb Galleria with The Battery Atlanta.
Ott said he voted in favor of the bridge because some of the entrance/exit ramps at I-285 and Cobb Parkway have dedicated lanes feeding into them that don’t require drivers to stop, making it unsafe to walk safely from one side of 285 to the other.
The Atlanta Braves released a graphic in 2014 that showed preliminary plans for parking and traffic management around the team’s $672 million stadium, according to an article by 11Alive.com.
The Braves say on the team’s website there are 15 more access points than currently exist at Turner Field. Access points to the Braves new stadium, according to the Braves, include six from the east (Akers Mill, I-285, Interstate North Parkway, Terrell Mill Road, Windy Hill Road and Windy Ridge Parkway), five from the west (Cumberland Parkway, I-285, Spring Hill Parkway, Spring Road and Windy Hill Road), three from the south (Akers Mill, Cobb Parkway, I-75) and three from the north (Cobb Parkway, I-75 and Powers Ferry Road).
SunTrust Park will seat 41,500 people. To accommodate those fans, the Braves will own or lease at least 10,000 parking spots on and adjacent to the site by Opening Day in 2017, the team said. The Braves also expect to have thousands of additional spaces within walking distance of the complex.