Summary
: The solution currently proposed by Chatham County and the Georgia DOT would be an improvement but it does not adequately address the needs of Tybee's residents. Tybee's citizens and elected officials should aggressively lobby the County and State for additional improvements to the current proposal.
Full Position: The current proposal falls short of addressing the long term needs of both Tybee's residents and visitors. Yes, the bridges would be replaced and yes, shoulders would be added to both sides of the Tybee Road for emergency vehicles and bike traffic but that's it. However, the proposal also calls for one lane in each direction between the bridges with a turn lane at Ft. Pulaski. While this would eliminate the two bottlenecks between the bridges (where the lanes merge) it does nothing about the bottlenecks as you approach the Lazaretto Creek bridge from Tybee or when you approach the Bull River bridge on the Wilmington Island side. If anything, those two bottlenecks will get worse by reducing Tybee Road to just one lane in each direction. I believe a more complete solution would include the following additions to the current plan:
• Two lanes in each direction for the full distance of the Tybee Road, including the two bridges. Keeping the number of lanes consistent the entire way between Tybee and Wilmingon Island eliminates all the bottlenecks caused by merging traffic. This will reduce aggressive driving and the resulting accidents.
• Place a concrete barrier betweent the two sets of lanes. This will reduce the possibility of head on collisions and may save lives.
• Raise the road bed to accommodate 10.5 ft high tides. The road bed should be raised wherever necessary to reduce or possibly eliminate the likelihood of road closures due to flooding during occasional extreme tides. The current proposal does not do this.
• Eliminate parking at the McQueens Island western trailhead.
• Create a turn lane into Ft. Pulaski for westbound traffic (leaving Tybee Island).
• Reduce the speed limit to 45 mph from bridge to bridge. This will help to reduce accidents and make those that do occur less catastrophic (besides, nobody seems to be able to get their cars to go over 45 on the Lazaretto Creek bridge anyway). Reducing the speed limit to 45 mph would only add about 2.5 minutes to the drive to Tybee.
Keep in mind that Tybee is not in charge of what is going to happen. Ultimately, it will be Chatham County and the Georgia DOT that decide what is best for us and these "additions" will cost more money. This means that we all must be vocal in lobbying for what WE think will best serve our community and our visitors. If we quietly accept a "good" but not "better" solution, we will look back in 6-10 years (or however long it will take) regretting that we didn't get it right.
You can email me with your questions, comments, etc. or you can post them on my campaign Facebook page. I will respond to each and evey email or post.