For 50 years, Dothan residents travel Circle

The golden anniversary has come with no fanfare.

There were no parades, no pronouncements from the city’s elected officials, no plaques dedicated to commemorate the event.

Traffic on Dothan’s Ross Clark Circle trudged along, albeit at a much slower pace than it did 50 years ago when the final segment of the once cutting-edge highway was completed. Some motorists did blow their horns, but it is assumed that was intended for the swerving driver in front of them rather than in celebration of 50 years of driving around in circles.

Since 1958, Ross Clark Circle has defined Dothan, giving it the “Circle City” moniker known throughout the region by drivers who feed onto the orb by three major U.S. highways. Its origin was controversial.

Over the years it evolved into a business magnet. In the past decade it has become the object of derision for many Wiregrass residents who drive regularly on the now-congested highway, making left turns anywhere other than a traffic light an exercise in stress management.

But according to the Alabama Department of Transportation’s 5-year construction plan, help is on the way.

Beginnings

Newspaper reports indicate many residents and business interests did not embrace the concept of a parkway encircling Dothan. Downtown businesses feared their demise. Some who owned the 106 parcels of land were reluctant to give up their property — some parcels of which had been in their families for many years. Some felt Dothan would be bypassed. Others wondered why Dothan needed a highway so far out from the city center.

“Everybody was concerned. They were wondering if a bypass was going to ruin their business,” said Sam Torrence, who joined Couch Construction Company as office manager in 1954 and later became president. Couch was instrumental in the circle construction.

Then, Torrence said something interesting happened.

“Everyone had been calling it a bypass, and that didn’t go over too well,” he recalled. “Then they stopped calling it a bypass and started calling it a circle, and the mood changed immediately.

“All of a sudden you heard people saying ‘When can we get it started?’” Torrence said.

Several politically connected Dothan residents got behind the project, including State Rep. Bob Stembridge, State Sen. Richmond Flowers, attorney W.G. Hardwick, Couch Construction President Quin Flowers Sr. and Louis Oppert, who was working as the area campaign manager for then-Gov. “Big” Jim Folsom.

The project was still believed to be iffy without the backing of the powerful governor, but when the governor received the blessing of local officials to name the circle after his brother-in-law, Ross Clark, the light on the project turned green.

While a few hurdles still had to be cleared, work began on the project in 1956. Estimated costs for construction was $6 million.

Growth

By 1957, motorists were driving on part of the circle, while construction continued on the unfinished portion. Then, the drive in to the city center from the circle seemed like a long trek.

But not long after the circle was completed, businesses began to trickle in. As traffic increased, so did the number of offices, restaurants and stores willing to gamble on the circle’s ability to boost their bottom line.

Some of the businesses were new. Some moved from downtown. Other downtown businesses failed due to the lack of traffic flowing nearby. Some say downtown has never been the same since the Ross Clark Circle construction.

Today, there are 764 current business licenses that carry a Ross Clark Circle address, making it Dothan’s undisputed king of commerce.

The circle connected to U.S. Highways 231, 431 and 84, meaning most vacationers headed to Florida from the north and the northeast have to pass through Dothan. Some spend the night, eat and buy gas, providing a major boost to the city’s sales tax collections.

“There is no doubt the circle gave Dothan a chance to expand and grow,” Torrence said.

Growing Pains

The growth eventually burst outside the circle, onto Highway 84 West and up Highway 231 North. Now, clusters of growth can be found on practically every road that runs across the circle.

But while Dothan has grown and continues to experience rapid growth, the circle has not expanded to account for the growth. Alabama Department of Transportation traffic counts indicate about 41,250 cars travel Highway 84 West just off the circle every day. That’s 10,000 more cars per day than traveled the same area 12 years ago.

Proposals and initiatives to expand capacity have been on and off the books for 20 years. At one time, a plan suggested an overpass to alleviate traffic at the congested intersection of the circle and West Main Street. Other plans have included adding lanes and service roads.

The circle improvements have appeared on the ALDOT 5-year construction plan several times, only to disappear each time before the project could begin. Funding issues have been given as reasons for delay in the improvements, as well as the possibility of a freeway connecting the region to Interstate 10 in Florida, which officials believe would draw some traffic away from the circle.

When the circle improvements disappeared from the plan again last year, Dothan Mayor Pat Thomas drafted a letter urging Gov. Bob Riley to fast-track the project.

“We feel that the state is failing to live up to its responsibility to the citizens of Dothan and the numerous Wiregrass residents who come to Dothan on a daily basis, by not addressing a long-term serious problem — the Ross Clark Circle,” Thomas wrote in a letter dated Aug. 15, 2007.

Now, with the circle project back in the 5-year-plan again, local officials are hopeful this time will be different. The first segment of circle improvements is scheduled to begin at Bauman Drive, north to U.S. 231 North.

Ross Clark Circle Trivia:

38,000 — Number of cars passing through intersection of West Main and the Circle in any given 24-hour period
764 — Business licenses with a circle address
86 — Eating establishments’ business licenses with a Circle address
84 — Billboards around the circle
28:39 — Elapsed time to travel around the circle at 5 p.m.
27 — Traffic lights around the circle
23:12 — Elapsed time to travel around the circle at 9 a.m.
13.77 — Miles around the circle