Safe passage for school buses, parents and teachers as they travel to and from the new Smoke Rise Elementary School in Tucker will begin to take shape with an official groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Tuesday, April 13 at 11 a.m. The much-anticipated intersection improvements, along with a new traffic signal at Flintstone Drive at Hugh Howell Road, will create well-marked turn lanes and clear pedestrian crossings that will serve the community for years to come.

Tucker Mayor Frank Auman and the Tucker Summit Community Improvement District (TSCID) have been diligently working with the DeKalb County School District, DeKalb County and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) on the permitting, planning and designing of a safe and efficient intersection for residential, business and school commuters alike. The almost $1 million intersection improvement project will have a return of more than $50 million in increased property value and will spur new development along the gateway corridor connecting DeKalb and Gwinnett counties.

“It takes a serious commitment to doing the right thing to bring this many agencies and governments together on a project, but when you do, the possibilities are limitless,” said Mayor Frank Auman.

The intersection improvements will also allow inter-parcel access to the new Hugh Howell Marketplace at Mountain Industrial Boulevard that is being developed by Branch Properties. Formerly a vacant lot with a Sears building that sat empty for years, the northeast corner of Hugh Howell Road and Mountain Industrial Boulevard is now a hub for redevelopment featuring a brand-new state-of-the-art school and easy access to a new mixed-use development with 30 tenants and a modern Publix, anticipated to be open before Thanksgiving.

“The best thing we can do right now is to invest in our future,” said TSCID President Emory Morsberger. “And our future is not only dependent on the success of our district’s businesses, but also on its improved infrastructure that will provide safety for our students, parents, educators and the community at large.”

The Flintstone Drive and Hugh Howell Road intersection construction is slated for completion by the beginning of the 2021 fall school year.