Work to ease congestion and problems at one of the area’s most treacherous intersections may finally begin soon.

Barring any unforeseen setbacks, construction on the much-discussed roundabout at the intersection of Newnan Road and Olympic Drive will begin in the next couple of weeks. The job will take an estimated eight months to complete, but officials believe it will reduce the chances of accidents and allow for smoother traveling in and around a very busy intersection.

“They’ve told us April 1st we should be good to go and then construction can begin,” Carroll County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Chappell said. “I know it’s going to a mess while it’s under construction, there’s just no way around it, but it should be a whole lot safer when it’s complete.”

The board voted on 4-3 on Nov. 9 of last year to move forward with the project, picking Baldwin Paving Co. of Marietta to do the $612,000 job.

Since then, it appeared to be a forgotten project.

The four-plus month delay has been a result of waiting for utility lines to be moved. Power lines and communications arteries owned by AT&T as well as cable companies stood in the way of the project. Just last week, AT&T completed the move and cable lines are scheduled to be out of the way this week, said Baldwin Vice President and Project Manager Mike Demery.

“We were at the mercy of the utilities,” Demery said. “Until everything was cleared there wasn’t a thing we could do. They tell us it will be clear on Friday and we can get on the site.”

Demery anticipated being on the job within the next two weeks, taking on a project that is complex in design.

Engineers say it reduces the possibility of high-impact collisions by more than 70 percent.

The intersection has a dangerous past. In five years, that intersection has been the scene of 34 accidents, causing 16 injuries and one death.

On Sept. 25, 18-year-old Malinda Anthony died hours after she was involved in a two-car crash as she was attempting to make a left turn onto Newnan Road from Olympic Drive. Her car was hit broadside by a truck. She was flown to Atlanta Medical Center where she died several hours later.

Anthony’s accident and death came just months after the board had voted down the idea of a roundabout to explore other options.

The Georgia Department of Transportation had rejected the possibility of a traffic light there and initially felt that even a roundabout there was too close to the light at Highway 166 and could cause traffic to backup to that intersection and create a separate issue.

The intersection is so treacherous because it has vehicles emptying onto busy Newnan Road from all directions. Olympic Drive feeds cars onto a busy roadway from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and Jail, West Georgia Technical College, the Carroll County Board of Health, the Carroll County Board of Education, Magistrate Court and the Department of Family and Children Services. The Carroll County Recreation Complex and Convenience Center also are near the intersection.

Officials hope that in addition to helping with traffic, the plans are to make the area a visual entrance to the city of Carrollton. The city agreed to design and landscape the center of the roundabout, and it’s likely to contain a sign welcoming motorists into Carrollton.

“We plan to make it a gateway to the city,” Carrollton City Manager Casey Coleman said. “We plan a wall with a sign welcoming folks to Carrollton and it should be really nice. We feel like it’s a good opportunity for us.”

For people like Commissioner John Wilson, who has been very vocal in his support of the roundabout, the project can’t get done soon enough.

“I’m glad they are getting it started and hopefully it can be completed for someone else is killed there,” Wilson said. “Unfortunately with governments, sometimes it takes a tragedy like the one there to get people to stop talking and get things done. I know all the people who use it every day welcome it, especially at the sheriff’s office. You take you life in your hands every time you pull out of there.”