Comments on: Where are Decatur’s Worst Bottlenecks?

By: Fred

Fred — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:42:08 +0000

How about favorite Decatur by-passes? I learned quickly (see all comments above) to go around the city to get from one side to the other. On the east side of town we have the option of going under or over the railroad tracks. Praise be!

By: JoeBlow

JoeBlow — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:22:40 +0000

S. Candler and College is pretty rough. Traveling West and attempting to turn left (South) onto Candler is awful. Heading North over the railroad tracks I don’t understand why anyone *really* needs to turn left onto Howard. The left turner always causes a snarl around the tracks, and could just as easily get to Howard by continuing straight to Church and turning left.

The whole section of W. Trinity between Church and the railroad tracks is generally just a nightmare. Too much awkward stuff happening.

Also, the snarl vehicles heading East on Commerce to turn left on Church to leave Decatur is always fun.

By: Russ

Russ — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:17:32 +0000

Good call…

By: Contessa

Contessa — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:34:12 +0000

Yes! I would LOVE to see the right lane be converted to turn only.

By: karass

karass — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:32:45 +0000

I would have to agree with others that the railroad crossings are some of the most inadequate and scariest intersections in town. The Trinity to Candler route bugs me the most but they are all frustrating. And while the Ponce/Scott island seems well enough designed for me, agree that SOMETHING is going wrong because crashes at that intersection can be heard all over town, especially at night. I think it’s the speed of the cars making the errors, not so much a bottleneck. Also agree that the Clairemont/Scott and Clairemont/N. Decatur intersections are frustrating because they seem fixable, e.g. converting through lane to another turn lane which would have the benefit of reducing the turn waiting time and also reducing the speed of through drivers. But maybe DOT wouldn’t allow…?

Other favorite worsts:

– Perceived bottleneck: Any left on to a residential street off of Scott Blvd heading south and downhill: Cars seem to feel that heading South on Scott gives them the right to use it as a blasting off ramp and they just about ram you or lose it if you interrupt their blast-off, no matter how much you signal and brake ahead to warn them. I pump my brakes like crazy to give as much warning as possible that my car is stopping or stopped. So I guess I’m the single-car bottleneck but I’m just trying to turn left!

– Driving through downtown on Ponce or Church is always a bottleneck but that’s ok because it’s a destination area, not just a conduit to someplace else, and the traffic slowing is a good thing for cyclists and pedestrians.