Forest Drive study yields early recommendations for improving traffic flow, safety

A months-long, ongoing study of the Forest Drive corridor has yielded a number of recommendations for improving traffic flow and safety through the city’s main business and commercial stretch, from Richland Mall to beyond Trenholm Plaza.

The number of vehicles that travel Forest Drive daily, currently about 27,000, is expected to reach the road’s capacity – about 30,000 – in the next eight to 15 years, a traffic data analysis found as part of the $125,000 study, which began in September and should be finalized in April.

Steps must be taken before that point to mitigate the growth of traffic and avoid having to widen the road, according to consultants from the Boudreaux Group, Toole Design Group and Land Plan South, who gave a study update with some generalized recommendations this week to Forest Acres City Council.

“If you continue down the path you’re on, people will begin to choose not to come here because of the traffic,” said Ernie Boughman of Toole Design. “That’s what we don’t want to happen.”

Some of the early recommendations from the study include:

Once the study is finalized in April, council members will begin to consider which projects they would like to focus on most and soonest, Williams said.

This story was originally published January 28, 2015 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Forest Drive study yields early recommendations for improving traffic flow, safety."