City officials hope traffic sticks may provide a solution to an ongoing problem with motorists traveling the wrong way on the one-way portion of Second Avenue.

By a 3-1 vote, the Dacula City Council approved a plan to install traffic sticks on the right hand side of the roadway where one-way travel begins on Second Avenue. Councilwoman Sue Robinson was the lone dissenting vote.

Though two traffic signs already mark the beginning of the roughly 300-foot section of one-way roadway coming from the downtown area, motorists continue to travel against traffic.

“People continue to ignore the signs and go up the road,” said Dacula City Administrator Jim Osborn. “I don’t know how else to stop them.”

The hope is that the sticks will deter wrong-way traffic while keeping the one-way travel lane open.

“With this, they’ve got to go on the wrong side of the road or go through the barricade,” said Councilman Hubert Wells.

Wells added that he would also like to see additional signage installed at the Second Avenue exit of Lily’s Consignment shop and across the street from the exit.

“I think from the discussions we’ve had that this is the preferred way to handle this,” Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks said. “Better signage, better markings -- something that’s going to be approvable by somebody -- GDOT -- so that we mitigate any liability.”

In August of 2011, the council approved a road project for Second Avenue that would have created a two-way entrance at the intersection of Second Avenue and Dacula Road. The goal, officials said at the time, was to improve the flow of traffic near downtown Dacula and make it easier for visitors to access the downtown area. Motorists would have been able to turn from both directions off Dacula Road onto Second Avenue, but would only have been able to turn right off Second Avenue onto Dacula Road. The $125,000 project was never started due to concerns the work would have been undone by the proposed CSX bridge-widening project at Dacula Road at Highway 29, a project that was one of the Dacula-area projects slated for funding as part of the failed Transportation Investment Act (TSPLOST).

In other business during the Aug. 2 meeting, the Dacula City Council:

• Approved a request to rezone a .656-acre piece of property on Pharr Avenue from O-I office institutional district to R-1200 single family residential.
• Readopted the codified City of Dacula zoning resolution and development regulations.
• Heard an update from City Attorney Dennis Still regarding the pending arbitration in the annexation case for the 157-acre tract of land near the intersection of Highway 316 and Winder Highway. A date has not yet been set, but the arbitration, which will be open to the public, is expected to take place in late August.
• Awarded the bid for the construction of phase II of the Dacula maintenance facility to Hamby Construction. Hamby Construction was the lowest of nine bids at $563,900.
• Approved the appointment of City Administrator Jim Osborn as open records custodian.
• Approved the appointment of Mark Chandler to serve the remainder of Kim Jones’ term on the Dacula Planning and Zoning Board.
• Approved the appointment of Dacula City Administrator Jim Osborn as election superintendent and absentee ballot clerk.
• Approved the appointment of Kay Partain, Financial Resources, and Charlyne Fuller, Customer Service, as assistant election superintendents and assistant absentee ballot clerks.
• Approved a request by Greening Forward CEO Charles Orgbon to hold a 9/11 Day of Remembrance at the city’s Olde Mill Park at Historic Downtown Dacula on Sept. 11 from 5-7 p.m.

You might also be interested in reading:

• Beaudreau Headed for Runoff, TSPLOST Fails and Broun, Balfour Win Big
• Council Accepts Annexation Application, Increases Millage Rate
• Mayor Urges Citizens to Protect Water Supply
• County Objects to Proposed Dacula Annexation
• Dacula Maintenance Building Bid, Zoning Case on Council Agenda