The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is considering reducing Highway 80 to a single lane in each direction from the Lazaretto Creek Bridge to its terminus at Tybrisa Street on Tybee Island.
This proposal has faced resistance from some local business owners on Tybee Island, particularly after recent events like construction work and the Orange Crush festival, which have acted as preliminary trials for this potential change.
This is in addition to what they said they have experienced with living on the island for decades.
“It appears to be a well-intended, non-functional engineering event,” said Keith Gay, Tybee Beach Vacation Rentals owner.
GDOT has told and expressed at public forums with Tybee residents that the single-lane highway would reduce delays.
Still, some people beg to differ, and have told their other concerns which they said outweighs GDOT’s pitch.
“70% of the island is saying this is a terrible idea, and they are saying ‘we don’t care,'” Ron Goralczyk, who owns taxi service Breezy Riders.
He relies on clear roads for speedy service, and now fears for the future of his company should the project happen.
“I’ve seen highway projects put companies out of business before,” said Goralczyk.
He told he has has stop service when the city has closed lanes in the past, most recently for Orange Crush.
Breezy Riders is based directly in the heart of Tybee’s busiest area, 14th Street and Highway 80.
“I can’t leave from 14th Street,” said Goralczyk, “Then you have to deal with traffic. You can’t do your job if you can’t move.”
Gay said the traffic concerns are his biggest worry.
Tybee Beach Vacation Rentals is located on Highway 80 nearly two miles east of the Lazaretto Creek Bridge.
“Single lane traffic will congest the flow over the bridge and beyond, and everyone knows that entering and leaving the island with only one lane of traffic is problematic,” expressed Gay.
For Gay’s business, easy access to the island is critical.
“If you have difficulty getting access and it becomes more and more complicated, which is what this is going to do, people are not going to come, and that’s the problem,” said Gay.
GDOT still wants to hear feedback from residents before making concrete plans for the project.
That been happening through a series of public forums with the latest happening March.
A GDOT spokesperson told a date has not yet been set for the next meeting.
