The completion of the Truman Parkway will have positive impacts on the city’s commerce and culture.
Many southside residents will have much easier access to other parts of the city and a relatively easy route downtown.
Residents of eastside neighborhoods and of the islands will have easier access to southside businesses and to Armstrong Atlantic State University.
The increased connectivity will certainly induce new demand for the Truman Parkway, which might increase stress at some key points, like the Victory Drive exit.
The completed Truman Parkway is also likely to make life easier for some commuters and to reduce congestion on much of Abercorn Street.
I’ll certainly be taking the Truman routinely for my afternoon trips from Armstrong back to Thomas Square.
That’s good news for me, but it’s even better news for those who have to use Abercorn or White Bluff to get to Interstate 516. Commuters like me won’t be clogging up the roads unnecessarily anymore.
So, yes, the completion of the Truman Parkway’s final phase will put some additional cars on parts of Abercorn, but it will also take many cars off large stretches of the busy street.
Of the thousands of cars per day that will exit the Truman onto Abercorn at Holland Drive, the vast majority would have been headed to the southside anyway.
If drivers bound for I-95 are tempted to take the Truman and then head south on Abercorn from there, they are unlikely to make that mistake twice. Georgetown-area residents likely to use the Truman are probably already traveling on Abercorn.
Fortunately, with road funding so tight, we’ll have plenty of time to assess the Truman’s impact before making additional commitments, such as the intriguing proposal for an elevated highway from Holland Drive to the far side of Rio Road.
There are certainly some thorny details in that plan.
Several articles in this paper have referred to the elevated highway’s pillars needing half the width of the 20-foot medians. Southside Alderman Tony Thomas pointed out last week that Abercorn’s medians are frequently less than 20 feet wide.
But there’s worse news than that. Hundreds of yards of Abercorn’s medians are less than 10 feet because of long turn lanes.
Still, it’s possible that an elevated expressway could allow the surface street to be redesigned at a much more human scale. At one crosswalk used by many Armstrong students and employees, pedestrians currently have to cross nine lanes of traffic — six travel lanes and three turn lanes.
That’s frightening.
And then there’s the cost of more than $200 million for the proposed elevated highway. In the current anti-tax climate, we have plenty of time to consider such details.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and http://www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.