No More Lefts at Lucado

The DOH got it right. In spite of pressure from Charleston City officials, who were responding to pressure from the affluent residents that use this intersection most, the Division of Highways traffic planners refused to put a stoplight at the intersection of Lucado Road and Corridor G. Instead they chose to restrict left turns from Lucado. Bravo. This story in today's Gazette covers it well.

People that live on Smith Road and its recently added (and ever growing) tributary streets, who normally use Lucado for a quick detour to Southridge will simply have to take a little longer route now. This will save lives and property.

Lucado is too heavily traveled. It always has been. In the late 1970's, long before this section of Corridor G was built, Lucado was the site of frequent wrecks because it emptied onto Oakhurst Drive in a downhill curve. The grade of the intersection forced cars to slowly exit Lucado onto Oakhurst. Cars coming down Oakhurst had no warning that slow moving cars were ahead and the reult was frequent t-bone or rear-end collisions. A friend of mine that drove Oakhurst every day on the way home from GWHS remarked once that he thought every person in South Hills lived on Lucado because of the never ending stream of traffic that eminated from this little street. The population that uses Lucado now is far greater since all of the development on Smith Road has occurred.

To allow these cars to turn left across what is effectively four lanes of traffic was never a good idea. The downhill grade on the southbound side of Corridor G made it even more dangerous. Putting a light there would have made it worse, since cars who beat the light at Oakwood would be at full speed when coming down the hill. There would be very short notice of a red light and on wet roads the result would be carnage.

Good for the DOH for not bending to the pressure of an affluent group and doing the right thing.