$130 Million Needed to Manage Future Traffic on 4 County Roads

If the traffic study presented to the Williamson County Highway Commission on Wednesday is a roadmap to a future of safe roads and managed congestion, then lets hope the county plans the trip well.

The study, introduced by Mayor Rogers Anderson, recommends improvements to four major county roadways over the next 14 years at a cost of nearly $130 million.

The plan has two phases, ending in 2020 and 2030, that would prepare Sneed Road, Lynnwood Way/S. Berrys Chapel Road, Clovercroft Road and Arno for the traffic these roads are projected to see between now and 2030.

Improvements include widening the roads to four lanes, with turn lanes at intersections and wider shoulders and purchasing right-of-way.

“This whole plan is done about safety- and traffic,” Mayor Anderson told the commissioners. “Safety is the main thing you are charged with and I am charged with.”

“There are a lot of partnerships that are going to have to be made and looked at in order for us to address this. But the citizens are telling us to do what we can do from a highway perspective in addressing these traffic woes that we have.”

The study, undertaken and presented by Chad Collier of Collier Engineering and Bob Murphy of RPM Transportation Consultants, measured existing traffic and safety conditions on the four roads, taking traffic counts and looking at crash data against state averages. It analyzed its data, and breaking the roads into segments, graded their level of service. Level of service is an A through F grading used by traffic engineers to rate a road’s congestion, with F being the worst and A being the best.

Using a traffic demand model, which projects future travel and traffic conditions, it created a list of improvements that need to be made or will need to be made as the county continues to grow.

“With the improvements the roads will be at a level C or better by 2020, and 2030,” said Murphy.

The Highway Commission will take until its next meeting to study the report, before deciding what kind of action to take next.

“The population is projected to double by 2040- we need to tackle these issues,” said Mayor Anderson. “It is a financial commitment we will have to look at.”

He added he wants to do it without borrowing money, and that the county needs to start looking for the capital.

One way to defray costs, he said, is by adding triggers to developments- for instance the Stephens Valley project will be in part responsible for some of the improvements to Sneed Road.

The Highway Commission will take until its next meeting to study the report, before deciding what kind of action to take next. It meets next on July 6.

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