Neighbors say quiet community plagued by speeding drivers, traffic jams

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Neighbors in a DeKalb County community say they’ve been dealing with terrible traffic since well before the Interstate 85 bridge collapsed.

From speeding to traffic jams, neighbors say they’ve seen it all on what used to be a quiet residential street.

Armed with an orange shirt and handmade sign, one man is taking the problem into his own hands.

Russell Spornberger told Channel 2's Justin Wilfon he is simply fed up.

In rush hour traffic, the cars back up as far as 1,000 feet down Embry Circle. Traffic jams are just one of the problems neighbors say they are dealing with.

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"People are just speeding. It's like they dropped the green flag over at Daytona coming over the hill here," Spornberger told Wilfon on Wednesday evening.

Many drivers use the road as a shortcut from Chamblee Tucker to Henderson Mill, and keep their pedal to the metal while doing it.

"I'd be walking the neighborhood with my dog and here they'd come, zoom, zoom, zoom, and I'd yell 'slow down,'” Spornberger said.

So Spornberger told Wilfon he started to try something else.

"I made my little sign here with my ink jet printer and some duct tape," Spornberger said showing the sign he taped to his shirt. "Lo and behold, I found some people would slow down, they would wave, they would smile."

Unfortunately there's another problem his shirt can't solve-- a daily traffic jam during the afternoon rush hour.

"They back up past my house and over the hill. Nearly 1,000 feet," Spornberger said.

Most of those drivers Wilfon spoke with said they were led to the shortcut by technology.

"My app took me here," one driver said. "Google Maps."

Neighbors here recently petitioned DeKalb County to install speed bumps, with the hope of encouraging drivers to use a different route.

But as long as they keep coming, Spornberger told Wilfon he will be ready.

"Some people stop and say, ‘Hey I really like your sign,’" Spornberger said with a laugh.

Wilfon spoke with the county Wednesday and a spokesman told him it's very likely the commissioners will approve the neighbors' petition and those speed bumps will be installed.

Cox Media Group