Traffic study indicates ‘connector’ road would reduce flow of vehicles south on Wilkinsville

By Bill Short
A recent traffic study indicates that a proposed “connector” road between Highway 51 and Wilkinsville would reduce the flow of vehicles in the latter’s southbound lane.
The road would be constructed in the easement where the “white rock” is located north of Joyner Park and south of the Advance Financial 24/7 building.
Its purpose would be to entice motorists traveling south on Wilkinsville Road to return to the highway sooner, rather than driving past Millington Middle School and Millington Central High School.
The traffic study was conducted by Kimley-Horn & Associates of Memphis after the Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved a contract with the engineering firm at its Jan. 13 meeting.
It examined the current and projected traffic-flow issues on Wilkinsville and Glencoe roads as construction of the Millington Farms Mixed Use Planned Development occurs.
The Millington Municipal Planning Commission approved the MUPD during its Feb. 17 meeting. It will be located on 103.7 acres east of the Shoppes of Millington Farms and Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse.
Charles Goforth, planning consultant for the city, has said an MUPD contains a variety of residential uses, along with certain approved commercial, office and light industrial uses.
At the Feb. 17 commission meeting, Douglas Swett of Kimley-Horn presented the results of the traffic study.
He said the study was based on the planned first phase of the MUPD and then the “full build-out” of the development.
Swett said the connector road would provide a “relief valve” for northbound motorists who currently turn left where Wilkinsville and Glencoe roads meet on their way to Highway 51.
On any afternoon, he said, six or seven vehicles are usually “queuing to turn” at that intersection. He noted that, during construction of the MUPD’s first phase, the connector road would reduce that number to three or four, while not adding more traffic to the southbound lane of Wilkinsville.
But Swett acknowledged that the full build-out of the MUPD would generate a large amount of southbound traffic at Wilkinsville/Glencoe or at the intersection of Wilkinsville and the connector road.
He noted that, currently during the “peak” afternoon hour, approximately 700 vehicles are traveling south on Wilkinsville past the Beckham Place Subdivision. The study projects that, after the MUPD’s full build-out, that number would increase to 1,000 without the connector road.
Swett said approximately 6,000 vehicles currently travel on Wilkinsville each day.
“If you didn’t put the connector road in,” he noted, “that would go up to about 9,000, which is above capacity for a two-lane road.”
With the connector road, Swett said, there would be approximately 770 vehicles during the peak afternoon hour, or about 7,000 each day on Wilkinsville.
The study recommends that a traffic signal be installed at each end of the connector road when the MUPD is fully built out. Swett said that would create a “more efficient or direct path” for motorists traveling to and from the development. 
“Traffic is like stormwater,” he noted. “It finds the path of least resistance.”
When motorists are driving home, Swett said, they will always find their “preferred route.”
“Hopefully, by providing a better route,” he concluded, “fewer people will start looking for those alternate routes to this development.”