>> PUBLIC SAFETY
A temporary, but muchneeded, traffic signal should be in place on North Columbia Street by this fall, State Senator Rick Williams said last Wednesday.
In a morning meeting that included business owners in the Milledgeville Mall, Williams said the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has approved a temporary intersection light at the driveway exiting the mall just north of Ruby Tuesday’s.
“Hopefully, it will be in place by November,” Williams said in an interview prior to the meeting’s start. Williams, a first-term senator after serving four years as a state representative, said a longerterm plan for the area exists, but it requires significantly more time, effort and planning.
The green space across North Columbia Mall between the El Amigo parking lot and the MattressFirm store will ultimately become the new entrance to the mall, Williams said.
“It’s going to require work; drainage work, moving some utilities, moving some billboards, as well as erecting barriers on the highway. But, that’s such a long-range plan,” he said.
Safety is the priority right now, Williams declared. He confirmed he had talked to numerous state highway officials, including GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurray, who is familiar with the dangerous road conditions. Williams said he was at a GDOT area meeting recently and was informed by an engineer he had a surprise for him.
“They told me Commissioner McMurray said, ‘Make something happen.’ So, we are going to have a temporary traffic signal at the mall,” Williams said. “This is something GDOT doesn’t do, a temporary traffic signal, but they realize the dire need for this temporary traffic control device.”
Williams said the original plan called for the light to be erected at Longhorn’s but was moved to the new location. He indicated there is no drive directly across the five-lane highway; thus, it will be a three-way intersection.
“Also, they will make the exit between Starbucks and Ruby Tuesday’s a rightonly out of the mall. They will put up barriers to keep traffic from turning. That will not be an entrance into the mall anymore. They will have to go on down and turn at the traffic signal,” he explained.
The Wednesday meeting and presentation was primarily for the mall-area business owners, Williams said.
“They’re all in. They’re all for it. They realize how dangerous it is out there and realize too, I think, that it will help the businesses at the mall. I think people are avoiding the mall because it is so dangerous [to drive into and out].”
Area engineer Corbett Reynolds presented GDOT’s plans Wednesday to a group of about 30 business owners and local government officials, using a concept drawing to show the proposed intersection and signal. He agreed the Longhorn’s location was not the best suitable for the new signal light.
“We had some concerns that might not be favorable for all parties, since there are some challenges to moving traffic through parking lots like that, with cross traffic going through,” he explained, adding that McMurray quickly recognized the problem.
Williams is hopeful the project will start in the near future.
“The state’s new fiscal year will start July 1, and they will be using funding then,” he said.
Reynolds confirmed that timeframe. “If everything works the way I think it will, I am confident we can move forward pretty fast,” he said. “July 15th will be the earliest I can have something out … I’m hoping to have the project [scheduled] by September or October, [with a] contractor on the ground by October or November.”
Williams also noted the traffic problems and dangerous conditions have been apparent since at least 2007 when a survey regarding the traffic signal was done.
“It was justified then,” he said, adding that he’s sought action on traffic issues at the mall since being elected.