Residents concerned by traffic situation near new Islands Expressway Bridge
CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - The new Islands Expressway Bridge over Wilmington River opened Friday morning.
There was a wreck at the intersection of Islands Expressway and Causton Harbor Drive just west of the bridge mere hours after it opened.
Leaders in the Causton Bluff neighborhood are saying the wreck didn’t surprise them.
Susan Brinkley, from the Homeowner’s Association of Causton Bluff, said that they’ve been expecting the traffic situation to be dangerous once the new bridge opened and have gone so far as to move back their gates from the road because of it.
They did that to help prevent scenarios like Friday morning’s wreck.
“There’ve been multiple accidents here since the time the construction’s been going on. There have been no fatalities, and we hope and pray that it never has to come from that,” Brinkley said.
A woman from Causton Bluff was crashed into at the intersection of Islands Expressway and Causton Harbor Drive, just hours after the new bridge opened. Brinkley says the HOA has requested a stop light at the intersection before.
“We’ve been told that the traffic study doesn’t warrant a traffic light. And they know what they’re doing, I know that they do, but it would make us all feel better if we had a traffic light,” she said.
For now, Brinkley is recommending that those that live in the neighborhood don’t make a left turn out of the neighborhood at all.
“The Department of Transportation has given us a specified turnaround. If we take a right out of the community, we don’t have to go far. And they have an area that we can make U-turn to go back the other way,” Brinkley said.
Brinkley thinks of the turnaround as a temporary solution to the problem and just hopes that everyone taking the bridge keeps safety in mind.
“We beg for people to pay attention to the traffic cones, the traffic speeds, and just everybody be safe,” Brinkley said.
Brinkley said that the people who live in Causton Bluff are also concerned about the speeds of folks going westbound on the bridge. Since Causton Harbor Drive, which is the road they turn into to get into the neighborhood comes up so quickly at the end of the bridge, they feel there’s not enough time to slow down.
Brinkley said this area here is supposed to be a turn lane for the neighborhood, but as you can see, it’s not at this time.
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