Georgia State Route 372

State Route 372 marker

State Route 372
Route information
Maintained by GDOT
Length: 27.128 mi[1] (43.658 km)
Major junctions
South end: SR 140 in Alpharetta
North end: SR 5 / SR 515 just west of Nelson
Location
Counties: Fulton, Cherokee, Pickens
Highway system
  • Georgia State Routes
← SR 371SR 373 →

State Route 372 (SR 372) begins at its intersection with SR 140 in the western part of Alpharetta, Georgia and travels to the north through Fulton and Cherokee counties to end at SR 5/SR 515 in the very southern portion of south-central Pickens County.

Route description

State Route 372 in Ball Ground.

SR 372 begins at its southern terminus at SR 140, locally known as Arnold Mill Road, in the Crabapple area of western Alpharetta, a heavily residential area of north Fulton County. After initially heading east, the route turns directly north, changes names from Crabapple Road to Birmingham Highway (named after the small community the route runs through on its way north out of Alpharetta), and heads into the western portions of Milton. SR 372 then angles slightly northeast, and briefly changes names to Birmingham Road as it crosses into Cherokee County, before making a sharp turn to the north and running through the unincorporated communities of Free Home and Lathemtown, now locally known as Ball Ground Road. After crossing SR 20 in Free Home and SR 369 about 3 miles (4.8 km) thereafter, the route turns to the northwest and continues into Ball Ground.[1][2][3]

In Ball Ground, SR 372 intersects SR 5 Business, which terminates at this intersection, and runs north in the direction of Nelson. Just south of Nelson, the route turns to the northwest once more and feeds into SR 5/SR 515, its northern terminus, just after crossing into Pickens County, where SR 5/SR 515 curve to the northwest just west of downtown Nelson, and just after the end of the freeway portion of these routes.[1][2][3]

Traffic

The Georgia Department of Transportation average annual daily traffic (AADT) numbers for the year 2011 show some variety in the average daily traffic load numbers as the route travels north. The traffic load averages start at their high point on the route, with an average of 16,530 vehicles using the short stretch between SR 140 and the start of the Birmingham Highway portion of the route. Those numbers then steadily decrease as SR 372 heads north, going from 9,390 initially down to just over 3,000 as Cherokee County approaches. The average load stays between 3,000 and 3,500 south of SR 20, climbs to 5,500 north of SR 20, and goes up once more to around 6,200 north of SR 369. The area south of and into Ball Ground sees an average vehicle load of between 7,000 and 7,500, cresting once more at 8,680 heading north out of downtown towards SR 5/SR 515. However, the short stretch that feeds directly into the aforementioned state route only carries 3,900 vehicles per day, illustrating that the feeder route into SR 5 south of Ball Ground sees heavier traffic than this northern spur.[3]

History

The first indications of a roadway following today's routing of SR 372 makes its appearance on Georgia state road maps in 1953, when the portion of the route in Fulton County appears on state maps as a county route, and which connected in the community of Birmingham with today's New Bullpen Road and then Union Hill Road to meet SR 20 east of Canton.[4] By 1966, the Fulton County portion was unchanged, but the portion of today's route from Free Home to Ball Ground and SR 5 had been added as a connecting county route.[5] It was 1969 before the entirety of the route had been mapped as connecting routes on Georgia state highway maps; however, no state route designation was extant at the time.[6]

Another 3 years later, the routing as it runs today, through Ball Ground to what is signed as SR 5 Business, was designated as SR 372; the northernmost portion of the route, connecting to what is SR 5/SR 515 today (which bypasses Ball Ground to its west), was still signed as SR 5 at the time.[7] It was early in 1987 before this final stretch of SR 372 was added to its designation and removed from a designation of SR 5 Alternate.[8]

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
FultonAlpharetta0.0000.000 SR 140 (Arnold Mill Road) – Roswell, CantonSouthern terminus at SR 140
CherokeeFree Home13.40321.570 SR 20 (Cumming Highway) – Canton, Cumming
 16.34226.300 SR 369 (Hightower Road)
Ball Ground23.27537.457 SR 5 Bus. (Canton Highway)
PickensNelson27.12843.658 SR 5 (Appalachian Highway) / SR 515 – Canton, JasperNorthern terminus at SR 5/SR 515
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "County GIS Base map shapefiles/geodatabases (varies by county)". Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Google (18 October 2012). "GA-372" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Geographic Transportation Reporting Analysis and Query System (GeoTRAQS) (Map). Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  4. ↑ Staff. State of Georgia Highway System and Connections (PDF) (Map) (September 1, 1953 ed.). Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  5. ↑ Staff. State of Georgia Highway System and Connections (PDF) (Map) (January 1966 ed.). Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  6. ↑ Staff. State of Georgia Highway System and Connections (PDF) (Map) (January 1969 ed.). Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  7. ↑ Staff. State of Georgia Highway System and Connections (PDF) (Map) (January 1972 ed.). Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  8. ↑ Staff. State of Georgia Highway System and Connections (PDF) (Map) (January 1987 ed.). Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 24, 2013.

External links

Route map: Bing