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Solution sought to stop cut-through traffic in PlanterraThu, 05/04/2006 - 4:18pm
By: John Munford
In a meeting with residents of the Planterra Ridge subdivision Wednesday night, Peachtree City officials committed to working on solutions to help alleviate cut-through traffic in the subdivision. In two directions, westbound on Kelly and northbound on Planterra Way, the subdivision’s traffic has roughly doubled between August 2001 and February of this year, according to traffic counts performed by the city’s police and engineering departments. No commitments were made to any given solution, but Mayor Harold Logsdon said use of a gate would be a last resort as far as he was concerned. City Manager Bernie McMullen said that the city attorney has said gates cannot be used to close off both entrances of the subdivision, but he would check and see if it could be acceptable for one gate to be used. The problem with the gate concept is it would deny other city taxpayers the ability to use the streets, which are owned and maintained by the city, McMullen said. For the same reason, the current signs banning “no thru traffic” are also likely illegal, although the city does have the right to keep heavy trucks off the roads, McMullen added. “We understand you have a problem,” Logsdon said to the group of about 40 homeowners. “We want to look at everything we can do to help.” One staff member would be assigned to communicate with the subdivision about the issue, he added. City Engineer David Borkowski said the city needs to look at traffic calming measures to help slow down traffic. That’s one of the main issues, said resident Rob Rothley: the safety of children who walk and ride their bikes on Planterra streets. “It is very much a safety issue,” Rothley said. “We want our community back.” Paul Van’t Hof noted that on much of the road, there is no cart path or sidewalks for children to use, forcing them onto the street when they want to go to the pool or to a friend’s house. Planterra residents would be happy to fund the speed bumps, Rothley said, suggesting that temporary speed bumps could be installed and then taken up after motorists decide to avoid the subdivision because of the hassle. “We could do some of the easy ones ... and we might find out we have solved the problem,” Logsdon said. Manny Guerrero, president of the Planterra Homeowners Association, suggested that the intersection of Planterra Way could be made so vehicles on Planterra could only turn right. That would keep local residents from continuing straight to get to the Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores, and it would keep others from turning left to get in the westbound lanes of Ga. Highway 54 towards Coweta County. In addition to cut-through traffic for customers of those stores, the subdivision has also seen a number of delivery trucks using Planterra Way and Terrane Ridge as a shortcut, residents said. The city may also consider speed tables, which cause vehicles to rise off the road grade to a flat “table” area before descending again. They have been used with some success in other areas of the city, officials noted. Another resident suggested using the shorter, more jarring speed bumps to force vehicles to slow down. Another more radical change suggested by residents would involve creating a cul-de-sac on Planterra Way near the southern tip of the tennis center, designed so emergency vehicles could traverse it to reach the area from Ga. Highway 54. Planterra residents must also realize that any solution will cause them some hardship also, Guerrero said. “We are going to have to suffer a little bit too,” he said. Borkowski said the city could wait until a while after the Highway 54 widening is complete to judge if cut-through traffic is still a problem in Planterra. But Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett said council could still consider some quicker ways to handle the matter, such as lowering the speed limit to 25 mph. Currently, the speed limit is 30 mph, and because of Georgia law, speeding tickets can’t be written until a given vehicle is clocked at 41 mph, said Capt. Terry Ernst of the Peachtree City Police Department. Another traffic calming device, called a chicane, may also help, Borkowski said. Chicanes are basically s-curves in the road causing the motorist to slow down so they can negotiate the curve. Some residents worried that the widening project for Ga. Highway 74 would also force cut-through traffic to use Planterra Ridge, but McMullen said he thinks such vehicles would use Kelly Drive and Huddleston Road as a more direct route. Rothley said he hoped to arrive at a solution for the problem that had high impact, but “avoids becoming a political firestorm.” “I think we’re all here on the same page,” said resident Eileen Shaw. “Let’s see what we can do to make it right.” login to post comments
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