Savannah city leaders propose new river crossing to ease traffic congestion

[afguy]

I'm glad to see city leaders are looking at the idea seriously. I believe Savannah needs a perimeter road connecting back to I-95 in South Carolina. This will become especially true when the new Jasper Port is completed in about 15 years. It could also serve as a new hurricane evac route for island residents as well.

Alderman Julian Miller of District 4 says a way to solve this problem is by constructing a new bridge that connects the Truman Parkway to US 17 in South Carolina.  He says this would give trucks the chance to connect from I-16 to US 17 to the new bridge in order to drive around the city.

"If we could do this, there would be no stop signs no start turns, no red lights, no pedestrians, it would basically be a superhighway to get you where you're trying to get,"  said Alderman Miller.

"It essentially forms a perimeter around savannah that most cities have, also most of these are size have a second bridge if they have a river like this."

Officials estimate the project would cost a billion dollars and would take several years to complete.  However, Alderman Miller says this would be worth it.

"If we could take the traffic out of downtown and put it on a perimeter road which most cities have been the city can continue to grow and prosper and help all businesses grow and prosper as well," Alderman Miller said.

Some Downtown Savannah residents agree as well.

"I think the tourist revenue is very important to the city of savannah and to keep that intact and for just the beauty of Savannah I think it would be worth it," said Karen Moss, who lives in Savannah.

"We are talking about a big project. We are talking about an expensive project. We are talking about when it's going to take quite a while to develop but if we don't start developing we will never have it," said Alderman Miller.

http://www.wjcl.com/article/savannah-city-leaders-propose-new-bridge-to-ease-traffic-congestion/4474969

[The Ghostbuster]

Interesting proposal. Does anyone think this project might actually be built someday?