Franklin, who are you responding to in your answer above?

I agree Steve. Folks want to complain about the suggestions on the table, but don’t have any better ideas of their own. Everyone was opposed to Blairstone extension, but look at it know. Traffic is so much better on that side of town.

The one way flyover completely relieved congestion in the Cap Circle T’ville intersection. Worked like a charm.

Like it or not, eventually large residential developments (Canopy, Welaunee, and others) will be built off both Meridian, Centerville, and Bannerman. These roads will unavoidably have to be widened and improved to accomodate that traffic safely. Even now all three roads are narrow, ditch-lined with no shoulders, and dangerous. Thomasville Road was once a two-lane road, was widened to 4 lanes, and is still a beautiful drive – the same can be achieved for Centerville and Meridian Roads with beautiful medians and landscaping to either side.

Meridian Rd. Monday through Friday at ‘8:00’ traffic coming in and ‘5:00’ traffic going out can be backed up for 4 possible reasons and 3 of the 4 are within one mile of each other:
1. The new Miller Landing Rd. stop light, which is not pressure sensitive and changes at preset intervals;
2. The crosswalk caution/stop light beside the entrance to Forestmeadows Tennis Center;
3. Maclay School 20 mph school zone…twice a day;
4. There is more concentrated traffic at these times.

Your suggestion to take a ‘scenic route’ is absurd. It takes you away from town. Town is where people are trying to get to at 8 a.m. and away from at 5 p.

At the peak time of 5:00 traffic, I have seen traffic backed up from Forestmeadows all the way to 7th ave…either stopped dead or moving at less than 5 mph. That is 6 miles. Solve problems 1-3 above and it’s fixed.

Kathy, Meridian Road will no longer be a canopy road if it is widened much more. Meridian was widened a few years ago and a couple of dangerous curves straightened more to allow for safer travel and wider lanes. There is only a thin narrow strip of trees lining Meridian Road. As for Mr. Phipps and his land, IT IS HIS LAND and not yours or mine. He has the right to build a cut-through to Old Bainbridge if he wants to and to charge those who use it. It costs money to maintain a highway. A beautiful scenic highway such as this has been needed for a long time. The county jumped on board so they could make a profit also. The public has the choice to drive it and pay the toll or not. It is a way to take a lot of traffic off Meridian on a scenic route already cluttered with traffic at 8:00 – 9:00am and 5-7:00pm. We need to save as much of the native landscape as we can while we can.