The Future of Driving/Transportation in Savannah

[SavannahLife]

AJC thank you that was interesting to hear from a professional in this discipline. Makes sense.

Interestingly enough downtown is a pedestrian city yet with its grid I've never been stuck in the city. I can go from one side to the other in any direction, any route, in all but 10 mins. Better than any other city I've lived in. That ol' Oglethorpe plan is great. I feel like you're right, big multilane parkways just turn into parking lots like Atlanta for people to jam up in rush hours, because they are retrofitted onto an existing design as you mentioned, which will invariably have bottlenecks.

On my commute I have seen a few of the simplest things like you mentioned that could have the biggest impact: better signalization or traffic flow management with road painting and arrows. My Example: In the morning at Dean Forest Rd getting on to I16 it backs up because there are two lanes going north but 99% of people just want to get onto 16 going east. And some yahoo going straight on to Garden City always sits in the right lane blocking everyone up instead of going to the left, which may have all but one or two cars waiting to go straight also. Make it a green right turn only arrow in morning hours that turns solid in the afternoon, right? Yet they're unnecessarily doubling the whole 307 width. The increased width down by US17 doesn't seem necessary, maybe only the existing width they have already done (which is nice). Yet there is still that bottleneck. Useless project. GDOT could use your advice! They always seem to try the most expensive yet least effective thing first!

Then, at King George Blvd & Abercorn where there is that priceless historical site and 500-yr old tree. Right across the road is an empty parking lot and an abandoned big box store. The plaza is basically empty. I checked it out, all the stores are empty. Mind blowing. We definitely need an interchange at that intersection to alleviate the huge bottleneck but why not just put the offramp on the opposite side (east side) from where Parker's was? Keep the historic forested site and make it a park. Everyone wins. Could've even left the Parkers! But am I missing something? (disclaimer- I am no engineer!)

I think the MOST interesting thing is that elevated highway over Abercorn I've read about. Not only would it triple the throughput it would offer a cool view over the marsh, and you could visually see traffic conditions and where businesses and points of interest/destinations were from your car up there. And I don't think it would be a visual impact problem since I don't think commercial businesses (i.e. Kohls etc) really care if you can see a highway from their parking lot, right? Have you all heard about that project? Of course I'm sure it'll take longer than the Truman bridge!

[ajc100890]

To address some of your questions, I'm not familiar with the Dean Forest Road project. However, from what you said, better signage can go a long way, and perhaps increasing the length of the turn bay. Generally, especially with public money (although it may seem otherwise) there are many warrants and design iterations that have to be gone through before something as drastic as widening is approved. It may be that volumes at other times of the day are propelling them into widening the road.

As for 204 / King George, my understanding is that the State owned the undeveloped land and imminent domained Parkers out of their property for market value. The vacant Piggly Wiggly is way too small. Most ramps need 600 feet of horizontal clearance in a near circle. I looked at Google Earth, and quickly deduced that it's too small. The state would have to acquire the apartments behind it. That would be way too expensive. However, thank NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) that the 500 year old tree was saved. NEPA requires an Environmental Assessment, which I'm sure prompted them to discover the tree and plantation ruins (which gets into National Historic Preservation Act stuff). So you see, right there are two federal laws the State must contend with if they want federal money for the road improvements. A lot of red tape goes into a roadway project. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

As for the elevated expressway over Abercorn, it's cool, but again NEPA will require impact assessments due to the Clean Air Act and increasing motorists in a concentrated area.They have to avoid increasing CO2, NO2, particulate matter, and a whole host of other pollutants the federal government has deemed "criteria pollutants" that are typically produced by an automobile. Coupled with the average bridge cost around $75 - $200 per square foot, as you said, it's a long way away. All I can say, is if they're spending as much as they will for the flying formwork this project requires, I hope they invest in something more decorative and not as monolithic.

[SavannahLife]

Thank you AJC, that was very interesting. Thank you for providing a very nuanced and detailed analysis of the projects.