Wednesday, July 23, 2003

I have noticed three unfavorable stoplights:

1. Northlake Drive and Ga. Highway 54. Northlake Drive is a tiny road that gets but a few cars per minute, so it seems quite odd that when someone on Northlake wants to turn left onto Hwy. 54, they get an arrow to do it. Is it worth holding up the light a good 10 seconds per cycle to let someone turn left before the two or three cars accumulated on the other side go straight?

2. Kedron Drive and Ga. Highway 74. This seems a bit picky, but since the inception of this very necessary stoplight, I notice myself stopped at it almost every single time I pass through. Why? The light seems to hold minuscule Kedron Drive to the same level of importance as it does Hwy. 74, which probably gets about 25 times more traffic.

If the light turns green for Hwy. 74 and someone arrives at the Kedron Drive side of the light, the light will almost immediately change, stopping massive lines of traffic for some lone, soccer-practice-bound giga-SUV.

3. I know this is an obvious light, and I've seen it commented on before in the local paper, but I must include it for fashion's sake. Hwy. 54 crosses Ga. Highway 85 at an extremely irresponsibly managed stoplight.

In order to avoid the stoplight, I, along with many of my friends, am led to turn onto Gingercake Road and forge a path through Fayetteville's increasingly traffic-stricken rural areas in order to get the Pavilion (on whose traffic situation I won't dare to comment).

The problem is that two-thirds of the eastbound Hwy. 54 traffic wants to turn left onto Hwy. 85, but the lights are improperly timed. Because the portion of Hwy. 85 "within" Hwy. 54, so to speak, is so small, and the light always seems to be red after the left turn is made, the light for Hwy. 54 eastbound stays green for only a few seconds, causing massive backups.

4. This is definitely the worst traffic situation in the county. The hwys. 54-74 stoplight is in terrible shape, and during certain times of day it can take a good 15 minutes to get through the whole mess while going west (although I wouldn't recommend going west, due to the awful traffic that you'll have to endure to go east, back into the county).

As far as the people coming east into the county go, I have nothing for you; good luck, Newnanites. But something can be done about the westbound traffic, something very easy. I would, in fact, do it myself if someone gave me a few buckets of paint and one of those orange reflective vests so I wouldn't get killed.

Right now, the situation is as follows: The right lane of westbound Hwy. 74 turns into a Staples-led development on the right, leaving the left lane as the only through lane, and thus causing it to get backed up with cars for a long, long way, right next to the empty right lane.

Additionally, access to The Avenue, a large development on the left side of the road, as well as a left turn onto Hwy. 74 southbound, can only be managed in the left lane. People wishing to turn left onto Hwy. 74 must wait in the left lane, then move into the left turn lane and wait for the next cycle to actually turn left.

What occurs when the turn lane fills up? Traffic pandemonium. So, if the road were to be re-striped to indicate the right lane, next to an infinitely longer right turn lane onto Hwy. 74, as the through lane, someone could drive up to Hwy. 74 and make a left turn with no problem.

Also, the people going straight through the light would have no chance of being stuck behind an overflowing left turn lane, and the Avenue-bound can simply remain in the left lane of the road until a forced left turn into The Avenue.

How's that sound for an idea to get people out of the left lane? The local government could save drivers a lot of time and gas money with a few simple lane alterations on the 54-74 intersection.

As for speed limits, I live in Peachtree City, the land of 30 mph zones and cop-a-minute driving conditions...

And I'll try not to hold up the left lane too much, but being a teenager that rarely trends below the speed limit, I'd consider myself more a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem.

Alex MacGregor

Peachtree City, Ga.