DailyViews: Editorial

Second route long overdue

Years ago, the Nottingham Way exit on the Liberty Expressway was like that small restaurant you sometimes luck up on. The food’s great and it’s easy to get a table because not many people realize it’s there.

With the heavy traffic on Dawson Road, Nottingham was a quick “back way” to Westover Boulevard and the Albany Mall.

But that was back then. Like that great out-of-sight restaurant that you now can’t get into without making reservations days in advance, more and more motorists began opting to use Nottingham.

These days, Nottingham Way from Stuart Avenue to Ledo Road is as congested a traffic area as you will find. The problem was exacerbated with the business growth along Nottingham and Ledo that has sprung up since Wal- Mart relocated its super center to the Lee County side of Ledo Road.

The route between the Albany Mall and Wal-Mart is packed with businesses, including heavy congestion at difficult to navigate entrances to Kohl’s, the Mellow Mushroom restaurant and the Wynnsong 16 movie theaters. And Rip van Winkle could get in a good, long nap in the time it takes you to find a traffic break that will allow you make a left turn onto Westover from the Circuit City-Michael’s-Home Depot shopping complex.

That’s why it is imperative that leadership in Dougherty and Lee counties work together to develop a second route in that area. Albany city commissioners heard a plan for a $9.7 million project that would extend Westover to Ledo just west of Wal-Mart.

Engineers told Albany commissioners the plan would have Liberty Expressway bridges constructed to pass over Westover, and that an extension of Westover instead of Archwood Drive would alleviate more of the traffic problems on Nottingham.

Estimates are that local sources would have to provide $1 million to $2 million of the cost of the project, but that would be money well spent as far as providing a service to constituents both in regard to convenience and to public safety.

City Commissioner Tommie Postell is right in insisting that Albany officials get Lee County officials to come on board with the project. That unified, regional approach in an area that has been slammed harder than most areas of the state in these unsettled economic times ought to go along way toward persuading the state government to approve this needed project.

Albany Mayor Willie Adams brought up an important point regarding the turmoil that has beset the state Department of Transportation. DOT has been in flux for months as state officials have questioned its efficiency and operations, the governor and speaker of the House battled over who would head up the department, and the chairman of the DOT board resigned over a personal relationship with the new head of DOT.

Albany and Lee officials, however, shouldn’t wait for the state to get all that completely settled before they begin pursuing this extension. The Department of Transportation will get its house in order at some point, and the Albany project should be as ready to go as local officials can get it when that happens.

The Albany Herald Editorial Board

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