State Route 347 (SR 347) is a west-to-east

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the northeastern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It travels from the

Lake Lanier Islands Lake Lanier Islands is a resort complex built on a small group of islands on Lake Lanier, the largest lake in Georgia, located 60 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia. The resort complex was established in 1974 and includes a hotel, water park, go ...

north of

Buford Buford may refer to: Places United States *Buford, Arkansas *Buford, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Buford, Georgia *Buford Highway corridor, in Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties in Georgia * Buford, North Dakota *Buford, Ohio *Bufo ...

to a point on the northern edge of Braselton. Its routing is entirely within Hall County. The highway connects the Lake Lanier Islands with Buford and Braselton. As the

Atlanta metropolitan area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...

has grown over the past few years, SR 347 has undergone strain from an influx of new subdivisions and housing developments, especially during morning and evening rush hours. SR 347 also serves as an important connector to the Lake Lanier Islands and the southeast portion of

Lake Lanier Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee Ri ...

from Interstate 985 (I-985).

Route description

SR 347 begins at the entrance to the

beach and water park, along the southern part of

, in Hall County. It travels to the southeast on Holiday Road and enters the northeastern part of

. There it has an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

with SR 13 (Atlanta Highway). It then continues to the southeast on Friendship Road to an interchange with I-985/ US 23/ SR 365 (Lanier Parkway). Then, the highway leaves Buford and curves to the east-northeast on Thompson Mill Road. Its eastern terminus is at an intersection with SR 211 (Old Winder Highway) on the northern edge of Braselton. SR 347 is not part of the National Highway System, a system of roadways important to the nation's economy, defense, and mobility.

History

1960s to 1990s

SR 347 was built between 1960 and 1963, but it only traveled from the Lake Lanier Islands area to an intersection with US 23/SR 13. I-985 had not been built in this area, so US 23 still traveled along surface streets. In 1968, it was extended to the under-construction freeway, which was then-proposed to be designated as SR 365. The roadway that would become the remainder of SR 347 was built at this time. The road remained virtually unchanged for nearly 30 years. In 1997, SR 347 was extended further east along Friendship and Thompson Mill Roads to SR 211 more than doubling the length of the highway.

Widening

Plans to widen Friendship Road (SR 347) began to appear in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In late 2012, the DOT began clearing and grading work to widening the road. The road widening would be handled in three sections. Section one would extend from I-985/US 23/SR 365 to the Lake Lanier Islands Beach and Water Park. Section two would extend from

Thompson Mill Road Thompson may refer to: People * Thompson (surname) * Thompson M. Scoon (1888–1953), New York politician Places Australia * Thompson Beach, South Australia, a locality Bulgaria * Thompson, Bulgaria, a village in Sofia Province Canada ...

to SR 211. Section three would connect the first and second sections.

Renaming controversy

In early 2013, the Hall County Board of Commissioners met to discuss eliminating the name "Friendship Road" and replacing it with the name "Lanier Islands Parkway." Château Élan Winery & Resort and the Town of Braselton both announced their displeasure with the potential name change. The residents who live on Friendship Road were angered as well, as the change represented, to them, county government bowing to business pressure from

. The residents are also upset about losing yet another connection with the area's past, as the Friendship Community stretches back over 100 years, yet so much is being lost due to the road construction. Later, Hall County Board of Commissioners decided to keep it as Friendship Road within the Braselton Town Limits.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{AttachedKML, display=title,inline
Georgia Roads (Routes 341 - 360)

347 Year 347 (Roman numerals, CCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rufinus and Eusebius (or, less frequently, year 1 ...

Transportation in Hall County, Georgia Buford, Georgia