No more traffic lights? Two-way streets?: Traffic study offers radical recommendations for downtown Natchez

Published 2:29 pm Wednesday, October 30, 2024

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NATCHEZ — Fewer traffic lights, more all-way stops and the conversion of Main and Franklin streets to two-way streets are all recommendations from a traffic study conducted over the last several months.

Earlier this year, the Natchez Board of Aldermen approved a traffic study with TSW Design to determine the best ways to slow down traffic in downtown Natchez and identify problematic traffic areas.

This traffic study is in conjunction with the downtown master plan, which seeks to make downtown safer and more inviting for pedestrians, tourists, and those who live and work there daily.

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Some of the recommendations from this study were discussed Wednesday during a monthly gathering of downtown Natchez merchants at Natchez Coffee Company, which is facilitated by the Natchez Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Natchez Alliance, and other stakeholders.

DNA Director Kevin Miers said Wednesday that he has met with Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and some members of the Board of Alderman individually to discuss the results of this traffic study and received positive feedback.

“The big deal on the transportation plan — what came out of it — was the safety aspect,” Miers said. “In four years, there were 505 car accidents downtown. That’s about one car accident every three days. Every two weeks, there’s an injury in one of those car accidents.”

Miers said in a T-bone accident last summer, one car went through a building at the intersection of Rankin and Franklin streets.

Miers said there had been discussions about “eliminating most of the traffic signals downtown and having all the intersections as all-way stops” to help mitigate such accidents.

This reduces traffic speed through town when drivers intentionally speed up to catch green lights. Miers said it also mitigates accidents from blind spots at intersections downtown. He also said Franklin and Main streets were wide enough to turn into two-way streets instead of having two lanes traveling in one direction on both.

“Franklin Street has lanes wider than D’evereux Drive,” Miers said. “It has interstate-width lanes, as does most of Main Street. We have the width on our streets to make both of those two-way. The idea is to create friction in two-way streets and make it a little more uncomfortable for drivers so they drive slower. If anybody has been to Vicksburg in recent years — we’re not going to be that constricted — but it is so constricted for drivers that drivers are compelled to drive fairly slowly. The idea behind the concept is to slow down traffic and make it more friendly for pedestrians.”

When asked why not just increase policing downtown to slow down traffic, Miers said, “If you create an environment that is conducive to racing,” that is still likely to happen.

“That’s what we’ve created: streets that are conducive to racing,” he said. “I was talking to a lady last night, and she mentioned her grandchild and the speeding but said, ‘I do it too.’ It’s just easy to drive fast because you feel comfortable doing it on our streets.”

Police enforcement also wouldn’t stop someone from running a red light who isn’t paying attention, he added.

Natchez Coffee Company Owner Sharon Brown said that, as an experiment, she intentionally drove 30 miles per hour through downtown, watching her speed as she went.

“It’s faster than you think when you actually get in your car and look at your speed — especially when you’ve got people stepping out into the street,” she said.

Mamie Henry, who owns Shops at Kress, also noted that the lack of visible signage makes it confusing for drivers to understand the streets.

“There are no signs for people to know they should take a right or take a left or they’re going the wrong way,” she said. “It’s just very difficult, if you’re not from this town, to drive around this town.”

Miers said after Wednesday’s meeting that while there isn’t a definite timeline for the study to be finished and the final recommendations to be ready to present to the Natchez Board of Aldermen, he expects it to be done by year-end.