Friday's Internet Edition, July 04, 2008.
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On Monday night, Thomasville City Council will consider a speed limit change from 45 mph to 35 on West Holly Hill Road at a point approximately 0.15 miles west of Baptist Children’s Home Road where the exiting City Limits of Thomasville is located.
Residents on the road have complained that the road is to narrow, causing a potential accident when people speed.
Don Fleenor of West Holly Hill Road has seen the speeding firsthand. He is the one who sparked the interest of the City’s Public Safety Committee, by contacting Councilman David Yemm, putting the possible change of speed on its agenda. On Feb. 5, the committee voted to put it on the city council’s regular agenda.
“The situation is that you have a ditch along the road and the road is very narrow,” Fleenor said. “There is no shoulder and since it has become part of the City Limits, I felt like it should go down to 35.”
With a neighborhood of older residents, Fleenor said, the walk is dangerous to the mailbox for the elderly due to the speed of the traffic and the narrowness of the road.
“From Lake Road to here, I think 35 mph is plenty fast enough, especially with the school,” Fleenor said. “You see school children walking down the road sometimes. If there are two cars coming along, there is nowhere to go.”
Yemm, a first-year councilman, attended the public safety committee meeting where Thomasville Police Chief Ronald S. Bratton briefed the committee on the West Holly Hill Road speed situation.
After Yemm told other city officials about the problem, police put up a stealth radar unit on a utility pole. The technology measures the speed and how many cars travel on the road in a 24-hour period. Bratton couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, but Yemm said the study showed one car going 70 mph.
“Since me being on council, that was the first one that I have saw someone going 70 mph,” Yemm said. “The road used to be out of the city. Now we’re getting a higher density population in the city.”
In a letter from DOT Division Traffic Engineer John Paul Couch to City Manager Kelly Craver, Couch said the agency would not recommend a reduction of the existing 45-mph limit based on the speed data and nature of the area. Couch did say, the City of Thomasville can change the speed, but will be responsible for the installation of any additional speed limit signs within the portion of West Holly Hill Road.
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.