Dear Neighbors:
I have been in the hospital the past four days, sitting bedside with my mother, who became so sick last week that I had to call for emergency assistance. An ambulance transported her home yesterday around 5:15 p.m., and I followed in my car.
While sitting at the traffic light at Woods Road and U.S. Hwy. 158—waiting to cross over to South Dogwood Trail—I observed five vehicles turn right from 158 on to Woods Road and then turn around in the middle of the road. I saw more doing the same after the light turned green, and I passed through the intersection.
I observed no police presence at the intersection.
I drove as slowly as I could on South Dogwood Trail until the traffic came to a standstill, somewhere between Tall Pine Lane and Yaupon Trail.
From my brief encounter with the cut-thru traffic yesterday, I would say that the left-turn ban was a failure. I have received text messages from friends in Southern Shores who confirm that assessment.
It is time for the Town Council to step up and “gate” South Dogwood Trail and Juniper Trail on summer weekends, so only locals can use those roads, and close all of the “jump”-off roads from N.C. Hwy. 12 into the residential areas, including Ocean Boulevard at the Duck Road split, Porpoise Run, Dolphin Run, Hickory Trail, Hillcrest Drive, and Eleventh Avenue.
East Dogwood Trail must remain open, but the arteries off of it—Wax Myrtle Trail, Sea Oats Trail, Hillcrest Drive, and Hickory Trail—should be open only to local traffic.
Desperate times call for (long-overdue) desperate measures. The cut-thru traffic in Southern Shores is no longer just a matter of diminished quality of life and inconvenience. It is a threat to the well-being of all residents, an obvious safety hazard. The Town Council cannot just look away and pretend it does not exist and does not demand preventive action.
I will say more when I can. In the meantime, please record your comments on the Beacon blog and Facebook pages. Thank you.
Best wishes to all, Ann
The Southern Shores Beacon 
In support of your first-hand finding of continued traffic on E. Dogwood, I experienced the same. Coming west on 158 to Dogwood, the car ahead was a vacationer (as indicated by license plate and bike rack). They turning right. There was a slow moving white pickup truck in front of this car. At every stop, the vacationer rolled right through; never stopped, all the way to Hickory. Traffic was backed up there, so they turned left onto Wax Myrtle, as did many other cars. On Dogwood, there was a train of cars led by the pickup. There were cars behind me, as far as I could see. In short, I saw what I expected, heavy traffic on E. Dogwood. I would also note that there were no car counting strips on Wax Myrtle. My understanding was that collected data would measure the effective of no-left-turn days on side streets.
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YES! Its beyond out of control! We had traffic until 7:30pm, droves of tourists walking up & down the street, fights and a line at the port a John at the Hillcrest tennis courts! The town council needs to do their job! I have tons of pictures to document the nightmare!
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You live on a public road in a tourist area. It has been like this for 30 plus years, if you don’t like it move.
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You are wrong about the 30 years. The cut-thru traffic started about 10 years ago. The backups on Hwy. 12 started about 20-25 years ago, when the first McMansions were built in Corolla. It’s never a good idea to cop a rude, belligerent attitude when you don’t know the facts. As for the roads, they are public, but town-owned, not state-owned. The town can close them. (I’ve said this numerous times, and you continue to ignore this fact.) Finally, I have no intention of moving because of other people’s greed and incompetence. That’s a loser’s mentality. My family has been in Southern Shores for more than 50 years. Why should I just roll over and let people degrade it? I not only was here well before the traffic, and the development in Duck and Corolla, I see solutions.
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