Speed limits and traffic control on North Jefferson Street were not on the agenda for a Milledgeville City Council work session this past Tuesday, but a request by a visitor led to considerable discussion.
Kayla Brownlow, who lives in the vicinity of the Jefferson/ Dunlap streets intersection, gave council members details of an automobile accident that occurred Thursday, Jan. 11.
“My husband and my six-year old daughter were traveling down North Jefferson—he was taking her to GMC, where she goes to school, and the car I guess coming north on Jefferson was going to turn left on Dunlap, and they hit headon,” Brownlow said.
“It was a terrible accident.
Thankfully, my husband and daughter are okay. They had some bumps and bruises and whatnot, but they’re luckily okay. But, she added, “my daughter did not want to get in the car with me this morning to go to school.”
The driver of the other vehicle was seriously hurt, Brownlow pointed out, adding that she has learned of others with similar experiences.
“The number of people that have reached out to me and said ‘I have had an accident there’, ‘someone I heard about has had an accident there’; other people have been severely injured.
“I would love to see it be considered for something to be done about that intersection.”
The speed limit for North Jefferson Street where Dunlap intersects is 55 mph.
City Manager Hank Griffeth started the discussion by addressing the turn off North Jefferson onto Dunlap, stating he never makes a left turn there.
“That could be the quickest control we have, stopping any left turns at that intersection,” he commented before addressing possible traffic control options.
“The engineering and cost of a traffic light or a roundabout at that intersection are going to be phenomenal,” he said. “I’m not trying to put a value on human life for sure, but if I had to guess I would say you’re looking at two to three millions dollars to put a traffic control device at that intersection.”
Presiding council member Steve Chambers said the city had looked at that intersection previously when a potential development across North Jefferson from Dunlap was being considered. The Ga. Department of Transportation (GDOT) was involved then.
“It was going to be a four-way intersection, and GDOT had a lot to be done to be even entertained for the situation.” That included realignment of Dunlap ahead of the intersection a good distance, Chambers recalled. “Trying to get GDOT on board, to get them off of some of the stuff they’re talking about will be difficult.”
Griffeth returned to the possibility of restricting left turns onto Dunlap but acknowledged there would be problems for local residents and others having to use other routes of a longer distance.
Council member Denese Shinholster suggested the use of the yellow blinking lights such as those used in school zones to warn motorists of congestion and safety issues.
“I’m like everybody else. It’s like taking your life in your hands, when you’re coming down there by Circle K [convenience store on North Jefferson 0.2 miles from the intersection] and people are flying, and you’re in the left-hand lane waiting to make a turn and people waiting until the last minute to get over (in the right lane) to keep going.”
Councilwoman Sonya Mapp agreed.
“I’m always afraid of getting hit from behind when I try to make a left turn there,” she said, “because they’re going so fast, trying to race right in there and get in the proper lane. It’s just really scary.”
Walter Reynolds suggested placing leftturn markings in the left lane well before the Dunlap Road intersection, “visual markings on the road, like ‘you don’t need to here unless you’re getting ready to turn left. Other than that, keep to the right’.
“I’ve had that happen to me before. I’ll be waiting, anticipating a left-hand turn, and folks behind me will stay right on my tail until the last minute” before moving into the right lane to continue on North Jefferson.
Chambers said there is an obvious factor contributing to the dangerous situation.
“The bottom line is, the average speed going through that intersection is probably 50 mph,” he estimated. “It probably needs to be 35 at the bottom of the hill, coming from either direction, then 45 all the way out (to Log Cabin Road) and back into town.”
Chambers made a suggestion for a longrange solution.
“To relieve some of the pressure on Jefferson Street and eliminate some of these cars, I would like to suggest we look for a third northbound route in our community, to take some of the pressure coming off Jefferson Street,” he offered. “I would like to see us go for another bypass, where we have another north-south route…but,” he added, “we’re running out of real estate.”
Another observer at the meeting, Jessie Lynch, told council members she had also experienced an accident at the North Jefferson/Dunlap intersection. She recommended a solution.
“All of these complaints would probably resolved with a roundabout. Sometime people don’t know how to yield, but a roundabout would solve that problem, because everybody yields because you’re going in a circle in the same direction, right?”
Lynch also mentioned the use of rumble strips on North Jefferson, which led to considerably more discussion before Reynolds offered some direction for council to take “What I would ask is maybe we have the roads and streets department come back after looking at the uniform traffic control device angle and tell us what our options are that would be appropriate and applicable to that intersection.”
Griffeth confirmed he was going to talk to the Public Works director to review the Uniform Traffic Control Devices manual, used by GDOT and most engineers working on projects such as this intersection.