By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The Cabot City Council Monday night took less than five minutes to approve a plan they hope will hold traffic congestion in developing commercial areas to a minimum.
The vote was unanimous to adopt an access management plan for Highway 321 and Highway 5 from Highway 89 to Highway 319.
The plan, drafted by engineers with Metroplan, limits median breaks with traffic signals to quarter-mile intervals and doesn’t allow new driveways to be built closer than 245 to 440 feet apart.
Ron Craig, chairman of the planning commission, told the council that the planning commission approved of the plan after hearing a presentation from Metroplan earlier this month.
“It does work and it is needed,” Craig told the council.
Mayor Eddie Joe Williams agreed.
“Hopefully, in 20 years we won’t repeat the same thing we’ve got on Hwy. 89 at the interstate,” Williams said.
The planning commission turned down a developer’s request for a second driveway off Hwy. 321 into his commercial development even though the highway department had approved the road cut.
Members of the planning commission and city council agree that without careful planning, Hwy. 321 could become as congested as Hwy. 89 West.
Richard Magee, deputy director of Metroplan, said earlier that the plans only set the broad parameters under which to manage traffic.
