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No easy solution to Hwy. 67/167 mess by ok72076 at 9/16/2012 5:48:24 PM Dreamin'. Caught between a rock and hard place. Those are two initial thoughts you have after reading any story about improvements to Hwy. 67/167. Everyone will probably agree the overpasses at Redmond Road and Main Street should have been replaced 40 years ago, or at least when the last freeway project was under way. But you're dreaming if you think the work will be done any time soon. Neither the state Highway Department nor city governments in Cabot and Jacksonville have the money to make any miracles occur overnight or even within a year. Some people will be shocked to hear this from me, but kudos are due Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher and Cabot Mayor Bill Cypert for realizing they have to put up their own city money or shut up about getting changes done urgently. However, the mayors are caught between a rock and hard place since they don't have the money now. Without tax increases, or a miracle, the residents of both cities shouldn't expect any changes any time soon. So what's the solution? First, the highway department and local officials need to think outside the box. They need to scrap any plan that calls for a progressive expansion of the road width beyond Main Street in Jacksonville. Is there even enough room through the city for six lanes with shoulders without putting concrete road dividers between the freeway and access road? Second, build the exits, bridges and interchanges before widening the road. If the north Cabot exit and the Coffett Crossing exit are built first, then that decreases congestion at the existing exits and improves the traffic flow on the existing lanes. Third, build a half-clover leaf exit, like the northbound Wildwood exit in Sherwood, along side the northbound air base on-ramp in Jacksonville. Traffic flow would be improved even if drivers can only to turn back to the south toward Lowe's and Madden Road. Fourth, state and local officials have to realize that exits from the freeway without overpasses are better than no exits. On- and off-ramps linking Ritchie Road on the southside or North Polk or East Mountain Springs Road on the northside would divert some of the congestion at the two Cabot exits. Fifth, start widening the freeway where ever it can be done the cheapest first after widening the road to Main Street. This means the northbound freeway from air base exit to Hwy. 5 might be done first before going completely through Jacksonville. Let's get the most bang for our bucks before the money runs out! And, lastly, Jacksonville leaders have to decide how badly they want to quickly improve traffic flow for drivers exiting northbound Hwy. 67/167. To do that, the city and state may have to make the access roads one-way before any turnaround is built. Drivers will learn their own short-cuts. A northbound road from Walmart to Vandenburg Avenue would handle the most pressing need for traffic flow on southbound John Harden Drive. Of course, the highway department could just change the road signs and make traffic on T.P. White and John Harden drives yield to exiting traffic coming from the freeway. But the police and firemen better be prepared for more accidents if they do this. Residents have to learn to speak up or be stuck with what city and state officials decide on!