With Highway 411 now four-laned all the way through Madisonville, Police Chief Gregg Breeden said his department is getting ready for an influx of fast traffic.

“The new highway will have a good impact on the economy of the town,” Breeden said. “It’ll bring people in and help raise revenue for the city. But we do expect there will be some traffic problems, at least in the first few weeks.”

The main problem may be people not realizing they have entered a city limits as they enter Madisonville.

“This could be a new route for people to use between Atlanta and all other points south and wherever they’re going,” Breeden said. “They’ll come through here instead of using Interstate 75 and if they’re doing 70 mph when they hit town, they might not know they’ve hit town and just keep right on doing 70.”

Madisonville will patrol the highway a little heavier and occasionally run radar in an effort to slow drivers down.

“And we have our sign that lets you know how fast you’re going,” Breeden said. “We’ll put it down there at times. And I’m sure the city will put up some new signs signaling the speed limit, which is 45 mph all the way through.”

There are two things Breeden hopes don’t increase: wrecks and drug traffic.

“The new, wide highway should help cut down on wrecks,” he said. “The old highway was narrow and didn’t have very good sight lines. It had a lot of ridges you couldn’t see over. But speed is almost always a contributor to highway wrecks, so what wrecks there are could be more severe.”

As for the drug traffic, dealers could see Highway 411 as an alternative to using the interstate system.

“You get a lot of drug busts on the interstate,” Breeden said. “They might feel they’re safer driving through small towns, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for them.”

In the end, Breeden asks drivers to keep just one thing in mind.

“It might look like an interstate now,” he said, “but it’s not. Please drive the speed limit.”

michael.thomason@advocate anddemocrat.com | 442-4575.