Monroe City Council approves bypass route

“No through trucks” regulation passed for Broad Street

A little more than a month after the long-awaited Monroe bypass opened to traffic, the Monroe City Council has adopted an ordinance to enforce a major rationale for the route — keeping heavy truck traffic out of the downtown area.

With a unanimous Tuesday vote, the council — a bit shorthanded due to the absence of Councilmembers Lee Malcom, Myoshia Crawford and Charles Boyce — approved an ordinance establishing a “no through trucks” regulation for Broad Street from the southern city limits to the U.S. Highway 78 intersection at the northern city limits.

The ordinance also applies to Spring Street from the intersection of Georgia Highway 138 to the U.S. Highway 78 intersection in the eastern edge of the city, and anywhere on North Madison Avenue or South Madison Avenue within the city limits.

A city ordinance from years ago already prohibits heavy trucks as through traffic on Church Street; that ordinance may at some point in the future be incorporated into the ordinance approved Tuesday  the council, Monroe City Attorney Paul Rosenthal suggested at the meeting.

Specifically, the new ordinance prohibits trucks weighing more than 26,000 pounds, or with more than eight wheels (including trailers and other attachments), or longer than 45 feet including all trailers and attachments, from using the delineated routes as through routes.

Exceptions are made in the ordinance for vehicles making local pickups or deliveries, or conducting other specific business operations, in instances where routes marked “No Through Trucks” are the only practical routes to use. But in those instances, the truck driver will be required to show written proof, such as a log book or delivery slip, to justify their presence on a “no through trucks” route.

Violations of the ordinance are a misdemeanor offense, punishable by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000.

While the ordinance was passed Tuesday, enforcement won’t begin until at least early January, by which time city crews are expected to have the needed “No Through Trucks” signage in place.

And even then, there will be a period of time in which law-enforcement officers issue warnings rather than citations, to allow time for truck drivers to learn about, and adjust to, the new ordinance, Rosenthal suggested to the council prior to the Tuesday vote.

Eliminating heavy truck traffic from downtown Monroe has been a focus for city officials in recent years, in support of the downtown area’s continuing transformation into a pedestrian-friendly dining, entertainment and business district.

More bypass, please

The recently completed bypass, a 4.7-mile route that takes traffic around a primarily southern quadrant of the city between Georgia Highway 83 and Georgia Highway 11, is just part of a broader vision for a municipal bypass. A so-called “northern arc” bypass remains very much an active part of local desires for future traffic routing around downtown Monroe.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Monroe City Administrator Logan Propes briefed the council on work with Walton County to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding a joint project, with an eye toward participation by the Georgia Department of Transportation, to get the northern arc built.

“We’re trying to revisit that with Walton County,” Propes said. “It’s a very specific, important joint project.”

Propes and Monroe Mayor John Howard met recently with Walton County Commission Chairman David Thompson and Walton County Manager John Ward on a proposed northern arc bypass.

“What we’re trying to do,” Propes said at Tuesday’s meeting, is “… to create some ‘skin in the game’ for GDOT (the Georgia Department of Transportation).” According to Propes, when local officials have approached GDOT in the past about the northern arc bypass, “they want to see some cash in hand” as a clear signal of local interest in the project.

What the city and county are doing in that regard, Propes said, is each trying to identify $5 million to steer toward the project. Speaking for the city, Propes said, “We should be able to do that with various funding sources … to get us there.” Specifically, Propes mentioned special-purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) collections as a funding source.

But even the city and the county kicking in $10 million will leave the project far from full funding, which Propes said Tuesday is estimated currently at $74 million.

In that light, Propes said the city and the county are seeking some direct appropriation from the state for the project.

“We’re going to shoot our shot at it,” Propes told the council.

“Otherwise,” Propes continued, “we’re going to have to get into another one of those 20-year cycles” of GDOT funding “to see if a (northern) bypass extension will ever prove fruitful.”

“We’re just going to go a little bit more aggressively for it,” Propes said of the prospect for state funding help with a northern bypass.

He went on to tell the council, “It should tell a lot to the state that a city and a county find so much value in this that we’re coming together to do an MOU.”

The Walton County Board of Commissioners approved a draft MOU earlier this month, and at the last Monroe City Council meeting, Propes asked for, and got, council permission to review the county draft and proceed from there.

At present, Propes assured the council, there is no obligation for the county to use any of the $5 million being considered as a possible overture to GDOT for a northern arc bypass project.

Following the council’s unanimous approval of pursuing a joint MOU on the northern bypass, Mayor John Howard said, “I think that’s a good start for moving this project along.”

Road project help

In other business at the Dec. 9 meeting, the council – with Councilmembers Lee Malcom, Myoshia Crawford and Charles Boyce not in attendance — approved a professional services contract with Holland & Knight, a Tampa, Fla.-based law firm with offices in Atlanta that has a lobbying practice.

The firm is being retained to help secure state funding for a proposed northern arc bypass around the city. A bypass around the southern end of the city, designed to keep heavy trucks out of downtown Monroe, recently opened to traffic, after years of waiting for state funding.

The professional services contract will be a jointly funded six-month effort with Walton County, which also has an interest in getting a northern arc bypass built. Under the contract, both the city and the county will pay $4,250 per month to Holland & Knight — for a monthly total of $8,500 – for six months.

According to documentation available to the council for the Dec. 9 meeting, the city will fund its share of the contract with impact fees, which are charged to developers to offset the impact of their projects on the city’s infrastructure.