Cook Out, an American privately owned fast food restaurant chain is in the process of opening at 4 Stonebridge Blvd., in Jackson.

While an opening date has not been announced, concerns about an already congested intersection – Vann Drive, Emporium Drive and Stonebridge Boulevard – increase, considering the popularity of Chick-fil-A.

WNWS.COM visited with Kris Gordon, E.I., City of Jackson Engineering Department, and discussed the traffic count and traffic signals located between Emporium Drive – near Lowe’s – and Pleasant Plains Extended.

“We recounted the volume of traffic at these intersections in November 2017,” Gordon said. “It was determined that the overall traffic volume at the intersections has decreased anywhere from 5.5 percent to 11.7 percent from our counts in 2012.

“The only increase was at the Emporium Drive intersection, in which it increased 13 percent, but it is not coordinated with the other signals at this time.

“Since you assume a growth factor for the area when determining new timings, we determined that the current timings were sufficient once growth was assumed and that no changes were needed.”

Continuing, Gordon said “We have worked diligently to ensure that all signal components such as detectors, clocks, etcetera, that also affect the amount of allocated time that is actually used are working properly.”

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Gordon said improvement is noticeable in this area, but the short queue lengths between the signals still make it congested.

“The simple solution that is usually called for is to add more time but that is not feasible when all directions are equally congested,” Gordon said. “You cannot add time to one direction without causing the others to be delayed further which is always the cause for concern.”

Gordon said the City rides this corridor frequently, while trying to self monitor the issues.

“We are also citizens of Jackson that shop and eat in these areas and experience the same frustrations as everyone else,” Gordon said. “We hope that some people have experienced some of the better coordination in this area, but a single component malfunction or a clock simply losing time by 30 seconds can make this corridor back up incredible fast.

“This corridor will always be difficult and require acute attention. We will work to keep everything functioning as smoothly as possible – but please – be patient and work with us.”

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(PHOTO: When the build-out is complete, Cook Out will open at 4 Stonebridge Blvd)
David Thomas, Twitter – @DavidThomasWNWS
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