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The City of Bainbridge held their regular session on Tuesday, April 20, where the Mayor and Council heard a presentation from City Engineer Gabe Menendez on the downtown traffic patterns.

Menendez said he was asked to take a look at the traffic patterns, where he noticed variable street widths, along with two-way traffic and on street parking. The street widths and two-way traffic were noticeable issues when Menendez did a video-drive along in his presentation, which is why he is recommending a change.

“It’s all the activity downtown that’s causing the parking and traffic issues,” Menendez said.

In order to remedy this issue, Menendez suggested making from Clark Street to West Street a one-way in the west bound direction and then to take from Water Street to Clark Street a one-way in the east bound direction.

He would then make Market Street, which is currently one-way north bound, and continue it from Troupe Street all the way down to Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.

Menendez said if this is something the Council would like to consider and approve, they would need to make signal changes. In addition, the decision to go from Broughton to Broad in the east bound direction would need to be changed by the Department of Transportation.

Following these recommendations, Menendez opened it up to Council questions, where Councilwoman Roslyn Palmer asked if drivers would still park on both sides of the street, despite it only being a one-way.

Menendez said he did still encourage parking on both sides of the street.

Councilman Don Whaley asked if diagonal parking would be more feasible, but Menendez said this would take up even more space in the road, so parallel parking would remain the best option.

Menendez concluded the questions and City Manager Chis Hobby suggested having a public hearing on this matter in the future meetings, as it is a big change for current residents.

The Council agreed and plans to hear from the public in its next regular session.