After Outlet Mall Opening, Woodstock Copes With Traffic

While Woodstock and Cherokee leaders and stakeholders are celebrating the opening of the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta, area residents are finding that while they will benefit from the increased property and sales taxes, they will have to deal with the side effect of living near a large retail shopping development: traffic. 

The outlet mall's VIP preview event Wednesday evening propelled thousands of shoppers to descend onto the 370,000-square-foot development, clogging Interstate 575 and other major thoroughfares throughout Woodstock.

The event and the traffic that accompanied it gave many residents heartburn, many of which expressed their frustrations on Woodstock-Towne Lake Patch's Facebook page.

One resident, Jean Hanson, said traffic on Wednesday was "horrific" and it took her 30 minutes to travel from Highway 92 and Main Street to the downtown area. 

Meagan Parsons noted she had to take Exit 11 at Sixes Road because it took her 35 minutes to drive from Ranchwood Trail near Holly Springs, down East Cherokee Drive to Towne Lake Parkway. 

Along with having the VIP event during the thick of rush-hour, City Manager Jeff Moon said ticket sales for the preview event exceeded expectations and construction near the outlet mall was still ongoing.

He also said "every employee (from) each store had (gotten) there at the same time," executives from all the companies opening stores at the development were visiting and deliveries were still taking place on Wednesday. 

"It has been open for three days," Moon said on Friday. "It will calm down."

Resident Jill Witmer Passafiume agreed. 

"I think we are just going to have to give it some time, but it will eventually slow down over there," she said. "I was initially worried about traffic around the holidays as well, but then got to thinking: traffic has gotten awful around this area anyway. It really can't get much worse in my opinion."

Throughout the grand opening weekend, Horizon Group Properties, the company that developed the outlet mall as a joint venture with CBL Properties, has been working with the Woodstock Police Department to ensure traffic moves smoothly inside the development and along Ridgewalk Parkway. 

Employee parking for the outlet mall was moved to off-site locations to ensure shoppers have as many parking spaces available as possible.

Shuttle services were also provided to shoppers who parked at Cherokee Ford, Woodstock Elementary School and Woodstock Community Church. 

Woodstock Police Chief Calvin Moss said six off-duty officers were hired by the mall and his department used an additional six on-duty officers to manage the traffic flow. For the weekend, Moss said the mall will utilize 10 off-duty officers and sheriff's deputies and he also plans to have two on-duty officers on site as well. 

"Overtime for on duty officers is expected to be negligible and should be within the current budget numbers," he added. 

Woodstock has made and will continue to make infrastructure improvements to help traffic flow in the area. Earlier this year, the city, along with Horizon and the Cherokee County Commission, all chipped in to widen Ridgewalk Parkway from two to four lanes between the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta's main entrance and Ridge Trail. 

Woodstock Parkway was shifted to the eastern part of the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta's property, and also realigned with the signalized entrance to the Meridian at Ridgewalk neighborhood. 

The old Woodstock Parkway is now used as the secondary entrance to the outlet mall. 

As part of a zoning stipulation that dates back to 2008, Watermarke Church has also indicated it will contribute to plans to widen Ridgewalk Parkway between Ridge Trail and Main Street. The church has purchased property in the area to build a new worship facility. 

The city will move forward to install traffic signals at the entrance and exit ramps of Ridgewalk Parkway at I-575. Woodstock was initially denied a request from the Georgia Department of Transportation to install the traffic signals, but the request was eventually approved. 

However, an essential component of the traffic signal was backordered, so the city expects the lights to be installed in late August or early September. 

Moon said the project will cost the city around $150,000 in sales tax dollars. Horizons will pay for the traffic signals on the northbound entrance and exit ramps and the city will pay for the signals for the southbound entrance and exit ramps. 

Despite the grumblings from some residents about the increased traffic flow, others said they understand the sales and property tax dollars and jobs outweigh the temporary inconveniences brought on by the new development. 

"I'm sure traffic will slow down over the next few weeks," Resident Amy McCloskey added. "The outlets are beautiful and will be a huge selling point for Cherokee County. Between the new aquatic center and outlets, I'm sure a lot of families will be wanting to move up this way."