Hamlet motorists to get a reprieve in early 2015
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
HAMLET — Tony Clewis won’t mind if you call him a pest. If the approach works, then use it.
The Hamlet City Councilman announced Tuesday night that the North Carolina Department of Transportation plans to — finally — install a left-turn signal on Highway 74 Business west where motorist wait, and wait, and wait to turn left onto Highway 177 South. It’s been on the wish list of Hamlet officials for decades.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Motorists traveling west from Hamlet wanting to turn left, or south, onto Highway 177 will soon have their path made easier with the installation of a long-awaited left-turn signal.
Clewis, a member of the state Transportation Advisory Committee, met with DOT resident engineer Chuck Dumas about the issue in November. Dumas informed him then that signal materials, additional signal heads and more have were ordered just before Thanksgiving. Installation, Clewis said, should come “some time after the first of the year.”
“It looks like that is going to be a reality,” Clewis said. “I’m thankful for that.”
Most people who live in, or travel through Hamlet, will be. The left-turn lane onto 177 South is a bottleneck and a safety issue, officials have said, as drivers — frustrated for having waited two or more complete cycles — try to turn left even after the light turns red.
In the council’s October public meeting, Clewis asked the public to call the DOT about the situation. He didn’t say Tuesday whether or not anyone had done so but the need was apparent.
“We need one there desperately,” Clewis said. “I’m bugging DOT every time we have a meeting.”
Mayor Bill Bayless said then that the city has tried to get that left-turn signal in place for four decades. He considered it unlikely at best.
“You’ll be working a miracle,” Bayless said in October.
