Bainbridge City Council members unanimously passed a resolution urging the Georgia Department of Transportation to transfer the truck route designation from Broad Street to West Street in downtown Bainbridge.

Currently, the North Broad Street corridor has served as the designated truck route, and during the time of the late Mayor Bill Reynolds, the city had then requested the change be made.

But apparently it never was, City Manager Chris Hobby said.

“We talked to DOT, several conversations with them, and then yesterday it was agreed that we had talked about it several years ago, but never final action was taken,” Hobby told the council. “Their suggestion to us was that we do it again.”

According to the resolution, “the navigation of Broad Street presents significant problems with commercial truck traffic, specifically at the intersections of Calhoun and Broad streets and Shotwell and Broad streets.”

The resolution is a step to get the DOT to inspect the proposed route and to agree to the designation change.

Hobby said making Whigham Dairy Road the main route for truckers to travel from Highway 97 to the bypass is still the main priority, thus avoiding the downtown area completely. However, that proposal is still some time away.

In other business, Hobby announced the resignation of Jay Wells and Steve Bench from the city’s planning board. Mayor Edward Reynolds recommended real estate agent Marcia Miller and Georgia Power Manager Joe Truhett as their replacement.

Hobby said Wells is moving to the Birmingham, Ala., area as part of a transfer with Southern Company, and Hobby said Bench didn’t specifically state why but said Bench perhaps won’t have time with his new duties as a coach and teacher in Cairo.