Backyard Buzz – Main Gate Road Resurfacing & Upcoming Traffic Pattern Change

Q. Couldn’t The Landings Association have chosen an alternate date for the Main Gate closure for road resurfacing, especially with increased traffic in the community from the Club Car Championship?

A. No. When The Landings Association’s Traffic Study was finalized, we needed to determine the safest way to navigate the Landings Way North/South/Tidewater corridor. This necessitated a pause in the paving program to determine the best traffic pattern moving forward.

Because of that delay, the week of April 1 was the only time this year that the paving contractor and milling equipment subcontractor was available to complete the work at the Main Gate. If TLA had foregone doing the work at this time, not only would it have cost our members $90,000 in increased asphalt costs, but it also would have placed us in a possible breach of our contract with the vendor. 

We anticipate the gate to reopen sooner than April 12. However, we added additional days for weather setbacks and/or plant closures. Understanding that this was timing was necessary but not ideal, staff created a plan of needed actions to ensure the closure would have as minimal impact as possible on everyone. Prior to the closure, staff widened the lanes around the Main Gate to allow for two lane traffic on Landings Way South and Landings Way North. The intent was to reduce confusion within the community during the project, reduce heavy truck traffic driving through Tidewater Square, and help address any concerns/delays regarding upcoming community-wide events.

In fact, this plan has worked so well, that the Association will test out this new traffic pattern after the Main Gate reopens. At that time, we will continue having two-way traffic on Landings Way North/South, the main thoroughfare of our community. This will necessitate converting a couple of yield signs to stop signs, to further increase safety in this area, a key component of and reason for our traffic study. The Association will monitor results to determine any further needed changes.

In addition to several email communications with a map outlining alternate routes, we also placed signage around the island directing members and visitors alike. During the closure, the Deer Creek and Oakridge gates have been staffed to help ensure ease of travel for Tournament guests and others. The Main Gate remained staffed to run the callboxes for all the unstaffed gates, and TLA worked with Chatham County to change the timing of the Lake Street/Diamond Causeway traffic light to help prevent vehicle backups caused by additional vehicles in that area.