Friday, July 8, 2005

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Hwy. 54 traffic patterns changing

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

In an effort to keep traffic flowing in the construction area on Ga. Highway 54 West, several changes have been made to the traffic flow at the request of city officials.

The most recent change affects westbound drivers, who are no longer allowed to turn left onto Huddleston Road. Instead, they must detour down Ga. Highway 74 south to Paschall Road, which connects with Huddleston Road.

The other change to traffic in the area also affected westbound vehicles, as one of the two westbound lanes on Hwy. 54 approaching the intersection with Hwy. 74 was changed to a right-turn-only lane. As a result, all westbound vehicles are forced to enter just one lane to cross Hwy. 74.

The two-lane bridge over the CSX railroad just past the 74/54 intersection continues to be one of the main choke points as vehicles from the north, south and west jockey for the precious few seconds they can turn onto the one westbound lane for Hwy. 54 before it fills with vehicles heading in the same direction.

Over a month ago, delays in the area were well-documented as construction crews in the area implemented a lane shift that resulted in the loss of the westbound “merge” lane that was a direct access point for MacDuff Parkway.

That resulted in MacDuff-bound motorists getting stuck in the quagmire of vehicles headed for the Coweta County line, causing delays in some cases upwards of two hours long.nter just one lane to cross Hwy. 74.