US 411 Connector Citizens Advisory Committee

Citizens Advisory Committee Meetings

The purpose of CAC meetings is to share information with and solicit input from key stakeholders throughout the project. To date there have been four meetings of the CAC, which were associated with key project milestones. The meetings were designed to foster consensus among GDOT, the consultant team, and the community.

All regular CAC meetings are held at the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce. The first CAC meeting was held on April 22, 2004, and was to introduce the project to the CAC members and for the project team to learn from them about the community features and general opinions of the project.

The second CAC meeting was held on June 29, 2004, and was to present information about each of the eight potential concept alignments and to solicit general opinions and comments of the CAC members.

A make-up for the second CAC meeting was held on July 20, 2004, at the GDOT District 6 office in Cartersville, to give those members who were unable to attend the June 29th meeting the chance to participate during a critical time in the project development process. Some members did not receive their invitation by first class mail to the original meeting of June 29, 2004 in a timely manner. Therefore, subsequent meeting invitations were sent by Federal Express.

A third meeting to discuss the project with CAC members was held November 9, 2004. At this meeting the members were presented with the concepts that would be developed into project alternatives. At this meeting it was noted that non-performing, fatally flawed, or economically unviable concepts would not be developed further, while the remaining concepts would be developed further and shown in greater detail.

A fourth meeting was held on January 25, 2005. The members were given a summary of PIOH #3 and information about the Expert Panel activities[1]. They were also given the opportunity to express their opinions on each of the remaining alternatives that are being studied in an effort to obtain input on a preferred alternative.

A fifth CAC meeting was held on October 11, 2005 to discuss the findings of the alternatives analysis, environmental considerations and to identify the preferred alternative which would be presented at the Public Hearing Open House.

A sixth CAC meeting was held on January 29, 2008 prior to the PIOH to discuss cost reducing changes to the project that resulted from the Value Engineering Study.