Sports complex entrance and exit must be on U.S. 61 only

Published 9:34 am Thursday, February 2, 2017

To the editor:
I am writing you this letter as a follow up to the Jan. 9 meeting at the City Hall Annex concerning the proposed sports complex on Fisher Ferry Road.
Based on the recent severe head-on collision on Fisher Ferry Road, I was compelled to write to you to regarding the proposed plan to help alleviate the traffic burden on Halls Ferry and Fisher Ferry Roads.
In response to my concerns about the current high volume of traffic and related safety issues, you acknowledge they were reasonable and accurate concerns but there are currently proposed plans to help mitigate the traffic. There were several options mentioned. One was a proposed Fisher Ferry to U.S. 61 South connector road sent to Congress for approval and funding.
Another was for ERDC to reduce its dependence on Halls Ferry Road by opening the Wisconsin Avenue entrance once the Wisconsin-Frontage connector road is finished and then opening the Porters Chapel entrance once the new ERDC administrative building is finished.
While, I do agree that will somewhat reduce the traffic currently flowing down Halls Ferry, I seriously doubt it will be enough.
According to the proposed Economic Impact — Visitor Projections on slide seven of the presentation, the traffic in this area will increase significantly once the sports complex is open. The limited relief from ERDC opening additional entrances and the proposed U.S. 61 South connector road will not be enough. Let’s look at this from a hypothetical (but plausible) point of view.
The current figures from the feasibility study indicate approximately 7,500 cars are traveling on Halls Ferry Road daily. If ERDC opens additional entrances, that may reduce the traffic by 500-700 vehicles at most. Subtracting the highest estimated number for relief, that brings the traffic volume to 6,800 cars traveling Halls Ferry.
According to the presentation from Sports Fields, Inc. the new sports complex could increase regular traffic on Halls Ferry Road by 50 percent and potentially double the traffic on event days.
Additional ERDC entrances will have limited effect on these numbers.
Additionally, as I also mentioned at the Jan. 9 meeting regarding my concern for our property values decreasing, if no one wants to purchase our homes now with the current traffic volume, they will most certainly not want to purchase them when the traffic increases as projected.
The only outcome that will protect the citizens of your city who live on and travel this stretch of road is to move the entrance and exit to U.S. 61 South.
Highways are designed to handle this volume of traffic. The current proposed entrance and exit on Fisher Ferry Road is at the most dangerous place.
How many more deadly traffic accidents and near deadly traffic accidents do we have to endure on this road before it is realized that this will not be a safe entrance or exit for this venue?
Michelle Thompson
Vicksburg

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