The Future of Timber Ridge Drive
Going along with yesterday's post about the selling out of Heritage Valley subdivision, parts of Timber Ridge Drive may come under the same scrutiny to become another retail shopping center or office complex. Though no decisions have been made, the initial signs for transition are evident.
For one, almost every single property on Timber Ridge Drive [Google Maps], between Chapel Hill Road and Prestley Mill Road, is up for sale. Preparations and talks about selling out many lots on the ¾ mile stretch have been made. Also the Georgia DOT has plans to alter the intersection at Prestley Mill Road next year during the I-20 HOV Project.
So what is the future of a small, yet important section of Timber Ridge Drive? Let's find out after the jump.
What is concrete knowledge is the realignment of Timber Ridge Drive at Prestley Mill Road. Due to the offset intersection and increased amount of traffic of the last five years, the Georgia DOT has added the realignment to the overall I-20 HOV Project. The intersection will be wider, providing ample turn lanes to keep the flow of traffic moving.
Property records show that a small section of land, owned by the First Baptist Church of Douglasville, has been set aside for the new alignment. Although the improvement has been needed for sometime, it will not affect the outcome at Chapel Hill Road.
According to the Future Land Use Map by the County Government, the section on Timber Ridge Drive is described as Workplace Center, which translates to an office complex of some type. This further suggests that a development may come to this area within the next 5 – 10 years based on consistent development trends.
Homes on the section of Timber Ridge Road, in Captain's Quarters subdivision and other neighboring homes may all be sold out like Heritage Valley subdivision. Approximately 63 acres is available for development, however no plans have been drafted. Also the Timber Ridge Office Park has land available for more structures, but nothing has prospered since 2000.
In the vicinity are four new developments for medical use, all of which are needed with the destruction of Parkway Regional Hospital - leaving all of Douglas County with one hospital. It is a possibility that if a development was to consume this residential area, it could be more medical facilities rather than retail.
One proposal has been to reconfigure Timber Ridge Drive by taking out the so called “Dead Man's Curve” near Chapel Hill Road and making it more of a gradual turn. Office complexes would be placed behind the new Douglasville Day Centre to attract businesses away from Atlanta. The motto being spread around is to “have work closer to home.”
Ten years ago no one would have thought that the Chapel Hill Road Corridor would have been overly congested by traffic and retail upheaval. The problems go back to an ineffective, not well-thought out development plan, resulting in poor decisions that have affected everyone. Once Arbor Place Mall was constructed, the floodgates of greed, development and ignorance became dominant.
Whatever the future may be for Timber Ridge Drive is still uncertain, but at least there are proposals for a major change that will inevitably bring more traffic. The pattern to do away with existing residential areas that cater to low to middle income families, while not reflecting the look of newer homes, are being done away with by commercial and transportation development. Though the section of Timber Ridge Drive is small, it does not supersede the displacement of residents.
The largest displacement of businesses and home owners in Douglas County will be the Highway 92 Relocation Project, which is slated to begin next year.
Downloads
- Douglas County Future Land Use Map - PDF (3.64 MB)
- Dorris Lane Extension - includes Timber Ridge Drive - PDF (3.50 MB)
Traffic is already bad on this road. I attend college at West Central Tech, but do not attend classes on the Douglasville campus anymore because of the traffic, because of “Dead Man’s Curve” and because when you are turning out of West Central, you cannot see traffic coming to the left until it is almost on top of you because of the hill. I’ve noticed that a lot more attend classes on the Carroll campus than the Douglasville campus. On the Carroll campus, the main student parking lot is crowded every day, but whenever I have to go to the Douglasville campus, I usually only count about 15 cars. Construction will soon be underway for a third building on the Douglasville campus (groundbreaking is this month) so obviously they think they’re going to have more students. Enrollment now is barely above 3,000. And the college spent $2 million this summer to upgrade the Carroll campus with comfortable office chairs for the classrooms for students as well as industrial equipment.
October 11th, 2006 at 1:53 amThe intersection at Chapel Hill & Timber Ridge is horrible - the quick trip and the new shooping center across the street (Starbucks & McDonalds) make getting through that intersection a nightmare. If you use those businesses you have to depend on the kindness of strangers to exit them! I used to go to that quick trip every morning but it is so hard to get in and out of I quit! The left turn lane backs up and it is a long torturous wait just to get to the light. Of course - there is always an upside: traffic is frequently backed up from the light past dead man’s curve-guess we don’t have to worry about anyone going to fast around it anymore!
October 11th, 2006 at 9:42 am