New traffic light makes debut in front of the Milledgeville Mall

Any time there's a new red light in a small town, it's sort of a big deal.

Such is the case with the new light in front of the Milledgeville Mall, which became operational Tuesday morning. The light, or more specifically multiple lights, is located just north of Ruby Tuesday on North Columbia Street. On the other side of the new intersection is the exit lane of the Magnolia State Bank parking lot (pictured above).

Baldwin2k News got bored on Tuesday afternoon and decided to post up in the Magnolia parking lot. Motorists seemed to adapt quickly to the new intersection, and no confusion and no issues were observed. In terms of time, the light stays green for north-south traffic on North Columbia for roughly two minutes and 15 seconds. Once red, the light turns green for people turning out of the mall or people turning out of Magnolia State Bank on the other side. This lasts for roughly 25 seconds. 

In other words, the light stays green for motorists traveling up or down North Columbia Street roughly 79 percent of the time.

There's one caveat to that. If a car is stopped at the new light on North Columbia and attempting to turn into the mall, sensors apparently are set off, and a green arrow kicks in. This lasts for roughly 10 seconds, thus slowing southbound traffic on North Columbia for a few more seconds, while northbound traffic gets a head start.

People attempting to turn right out of the mall quickly will learn not to use the new intersection and instead utilize one of the other mall exits (the one by Longhorn Steakhouse or the one by Starbucks). Several cars were stuck in line with their right blinker on, while the car in front of them was readying to turn left and readying for the light to turn green.

Perhaps most noticeable along this stretch of North Columbia is a series of yellow poles, designed to cut down on the number of left turns into the mall or into the businesses in front of the Big Lots shopping center. Left turns are no longer allowed into the Panda Express/Popeyes/Chipotle parking lot. Nor are people leaving one of those three aforementioned restaurants  allowed to turn left onto North Columbia. This inevitably will funnel more traffic to Dunlap Road, for whatever it's worth.

All in all, everything ran smoothly, at least during the time that Baldwin2k was observing. Human beings generally are resistant to change, but human beings also are fairly adaptable to change.

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