Loganville has been actively installing sidewalks in areas around the city in keeping with initial requests from residents and proposals that came out of the Livable Centers Initiative that was conducted a few years ago. Money from the Special Local Option Sales Tax was appropriated for the sidewalks and many of them have already been constructed. Included in these upgrades were road improvements to Tommy Lee Fuller Road and the combination of the two recently caused some confusion for local residents.
When first constructed, the crosswalk appeared to go nowhere, resulting in it being branded "the crosswalk to nowhere." In addition, there was little more than one car length between that and another stop sign.
"I'm just as confused why one has been put in at all on that road. ...but then they moved it there??? Talk about completely random and stupid. Can't wait to hear the reasoning behind it all," someone commented on Facebook.
When the forming for the other side went in on Thursday, it did however make a little more sense. According to city officials, they had no choice - it was required by state law.
"When you make alterations or undertake construction on any road, as we did with Tommy Lee Fuller, you have no choice but to bring it up to code," Councilman Skip Baliles said. "Which is what we did. We have, however, now moved the other stop sign that didn't make any sense."
The crosswalk now no longer appears to go nowhere - it gives people walking on the sidewalk a place to cross the road and pick up the sidewalk on the other side. Another commenter on Facebook did see the merit in this.
"Kids who walk to school cross there every day twice a day. I personally am so glad that they finally put up a stop sign there. It will slow people down and hopefully save a life or two," she commented.
Some other traffic news updates around the city, however, were not so good. Officials announced at Thursday's City Council meeting that despite a request and a study, the Georgia Department of Transportation declined a traffic light at the intersection of Huntington Ridge and Highway 20 south.
"We will keep trying to find a solution though," Baliles said. "But for right now they have declined that traffic light."
If anyone is walking to school, it is usually from the Towler Shoals Subdivision further up the road. There's no way they are going to walk down to this stop sign to cross and come back to where they started in the first place. My opinion: Sidewalks - great! Stop signs - STUPID!