Herschel Smith urges Americus City Council to make truck traffic in the downtown safer

Published 9:17 am Saturday, July 26, 2025

Herschel Smith spoke during citizens comments with concerns about large truck traffic going through the downtown. Smith had a near run-in with a large truck while in the downtown. The incident led him to try and seek help from the City Council. “Last February I addressed the City Council regarding the safety issues of large trucks taking a short cut through the downtown instead of using the new multi-million-dollar truck bypass.”

However, Smith was unsatisfied by a lack of response. “I am very familiar with the restrictions regarding who owns and maintains the 4 highways that travel through downtown. I believe the city made a mistake when their specific request to GDOT was to try to prevent or stop truck traffic through downtown.”

Mainstreet Director, Qaijuan Willis, emailed GDOT in 2023, asking what could be down about the issues with truck traffic in the downtown. He received the following reply on October 4, 2023 from Daniel J. Trevorrow, district traffic engineer. “In order to restrict truck traffic through downtown the State Route designations would need to be removed from those routes. There would need to be alternative routes for those designations to then be placed on that would meet state design standards and provide suitable route connectivity. Additionally, if the State Route designations were removed, those roadways would then become the responsibility of the City to maintain, as well as the operation and maintenance of the traffic signals.”

However, Trevorrow did offer to meet with City officials. “My team would be happy to meet with you and City representatives sometime in the coming months to look at what could be feasible for traffic calming and improved pedestrian accommodations.”

Smith believes the City should at least meet with GDOT to explore options for making truck traffic safer, even if it cannot be stopped. “I am asking you once again, please reach out to the appropriate professionals at GDOT and ask for their help to reduce, reduce not stop, the large trucks taking short cuts through downtown Americus.”

For Smith, the matter is urgent. “It is about time to address this problem before someone gets hurt. It is only a matter of time before we have an 18-wheeler fatality in the city limits.”

Frank Ceresoli is vice president of Hospitality at the Edgewater Group, which owns The Windsor. He also had concerns about 18-wheeler traffic. “I personally witnessed an elderly guest get out of her passenger side door, open it up, and it was a fraction of an inch from an 18-wheeler just about taking this woman out.”

Bill Harris was another citizen concerned about the issue with children and families enjoying the downtown. “It is an accident waiting to happen with the way traffic comes through downtown.”

Harris believes it can be fixed. “A lot of cities in Georgia have more traffic than we do, and they have come up with solutions.”

He talked about the City’s role in traffic safety. “When we went from three lanes to two lanes downtown, that was going to be the beginning of curb knockouts that were going to slow traffic.” He argued that visual cues for traffic to slow down were important, and that the City had ways of making the traffic safer.

After the meeting, Mayor Lee Kinnamon was asked whether he or Council would be willing to meet with GDOT to discuss the problem of truck traffic. He answer was to the point. “Of course.”