To avoid after-work traffic when leaving her flower business on Abercorn Street Extension, Kertina Johnson uses a series of back roads that run through the Windsor Forest community and behind Armstrong Atlantic State University before accessing Abercorn at Rio Road.
But even when she uses the meandering route, traffic congestion turns what should be about a 10-minute drive to her home about eight miles west into a 25- to 30-minute ordeal.
“It’s like Atlanta,” Johnson said.
Serving up to about 42,000 vehicles per day in some sections, the commercial corridor links the Truman Parkway and Veterans Parkway to U.S. 17 and Interstate 95; connects Savannah with Richmond Hill, Liberty County and Fort Stewart; and provides access to regional activity centers such as the Savannah Mall, Armstrong and St. Joseph’s/Candler hospitals.
With population and employment growth ahead and the final phase of the Truman Parkway expected to dump about 23,000 vehicles a day onto Abercorn when it is completed next year, local planners say the current traffic problems are only the beginning.
Instead of relying on a traditional approach and widening that commercial section of Abercorn, which would be more costly and displace businesses, local planners are looking upward for an answer to the traffic woes.
The Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization is gearing up to present its plan to build an elevated four-lane expressway above Abercorn’s median, which would separate regional commuters from local traffic. Standing about 35-feet high at its base, the 2.6-mile bypass would add two lanes in each direction from an intersection west of Rio Road to the south end of the Truman Parkway at Holland Drive.
The project could cost more than $200 million, with some of the funding coming from a toll on the new roadway.
Vetting process
Planning organization officials recently selected the elevated parkway as their preferred choice out of eight alternatives. The rejected plans included street widening, reversible lanes and construction of a parallel road. Those options were found to be ineffective, too costly and require the acquisition of too much property and business displacement.
“The impacts to the community were not good,” said Michael Adams, transportation planner for the planning organization.
Instead of requiring wide swaths of land for additional lanes, which could wipe out businesses and parking, only limited amounts of right-of-way are needed for the elevated expressway, mostly at intersections where turn lanes would need to go. The footprint of the structure would be 10 feet wide and fit within the 20-foot median along most of the route. Construction impacts are expected to be minimal, since the structure would not encroach on a majority of the existing travel lanes.
By removing high-speed through traffic from the existing lanes, planners say the corridor would become safer and more accommodating to pedestrians and bicyclists. Bike lanes and sidewalks would be installed as part of the project.
Other road improvement plans
The elevated highway would run along one of three road segments being eyed for improvements. Plans are also being developed for sections farther west on Abercorn between Gateway Boulevard West to U.S. 17 and from U.S. 17 to Rio Road.
The Georgia Department of Transportation has approved funding for improvements to the King George Boulevard interchange, with construction scheduled to begin within two years. There is also a plan to add two lanes on the Forest River bridge by the Veterans Parkway ramp by re-striping the road, which will likely occur before the King George improvements.
The improvements at the interchange and farther west include overpasses that, along with the elevated expressway, will make it possible for drivers to take the Truman Parkway from downtown to I-95 without hitting a traffic signal, said Tom Thomson, executive director of the planning organization.
Free flow in Tampa
After a construction setback and subsequent lawsuit, a 10-mile elevated expressway in Tampa went on to become an internationally recognized success in significantly reducing congestion and travel times after opening in 2006, said Sue Chrzan, spokesperson for the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority.
The reversible Selmon Expressway overpass provides three lanes into Tampa during morning peak hours and out of the city in the afternoon. Use of the road has exceeded expectations, while traffic flows at the set speed limit, Chrzan said.
“Both local lanes and express lanes are free flow,” she said.
Like the proposed Abercorn project, the Selmon expressway was built in the median of the existing road. The construction impact was typical for the most part, requiring the closing of one travel lane, Chrzan said.
A construction mishap delayed the project’s completion by about a year. An elevated section of the expressway collapsed during construction in 2004, causing minor injuries to two workers and upping the price tag by about $95 million. The collapse occurred after inadequate soil sampling led to a support pier sinking, Chrzan said.
The expressway authority ended up receiving a settlement of nearly $75 million after suing the project’s general engineering consultant.
The Selmon project differs from the proposed Abercorn expressway in that it was not located in a commercial area. The Tampa agency has had less success moving forward with elevated lanes for Gandy Boulevard in a business district after opposition, stemming from concerns about visual obstruction and losing customers, led to the proposal being shelved, Chrzan said.
Planners behind the Abercorn project hope to address such concerns by building the lanes at a sufficient height to allow for an unobstructed view and by including a mid-point connector to surface streets.
A question of funding
While construction would be more expensive, the project’s total cost would be less than the alternatives considered since less money would be spent on property acquisition, Adams said.
Toll revenues are being considered as a way to help cover the estimated $212 million price tag.
A 2011 study estimated the electronic, free-flowing toll, which would charge 25 to 75 cents, would raise about $744,000 in its first year and increase to $1.2 million the year after. That calculation assumed vehicles with two or more passengers would not be charged. The study based its estimates on opening the toll in 2015, although the elevated road is not expected to be built for at least 10 years.
The toll scenarios were rudimentary and the study’s rates are a little low, since $1 is the industry standard, Thomson said.
Special purpose local option sales tax funds are also being looked at as a possible funding source.
“That’s all the stuff that gets discussed in the next phase,” Thomson said.
Timeline
The elevated expressway is still in its planning stage, and planners are working to answer the many questions that need to be addressed, mainly the issue of how the project will be paid for, Thomson said.
Planning organization officials will be engaging the public as they determine the design of the elevated structure and its potential impact on businesses, while also looking at possible land uses for the corridor.
Upcoming public meetings concerning the project are scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
“If we ever build this in a relatively near time frame, I’m talking the next 10 years, we may be the first to do this type of construction in this type of land use character in the world,” Thomson said.
HAVE A SAY
Upcoming meetings regarding Abercorn elevated expressway plan:
• Metropolitan Planning Commission Meeting, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, MPC hearing room, 110 East State St.
• Planning organization MPO Board Meeting, 10 a.m. Wednesday, MPC hearing room, 110 East State St.
• Public information open house, 5 p.m. Thursday, Armstrong Center, 13040 Abercorn St.