Both are small towns located at least 30 miles from a major city. Thomasville, with 20,000 residents, is 35 miles from Tallahassee, Fla. Eufaula, with 14,000 residents, is 45 miles from Columbus, Ga. Both are racially diverse cities that take pride in their heritage and tout their stately homes as tourist attractions. Both towns also place emphasis on Main Street programs designed to lure shoppers downtown. There is at least one key difference. Thomasville has a bypass. Eufaula doesn't. According to two Thomasville officials, the bypass has helped the town grow. "Our bypass is seen as a way to route truck traffic around Thomasville, and have an easier flow in our downtown area," Don Sims of the Thomasville-Thomas County Chamber of Commerce said. "I have never heard of anyone being against the project.(...)
Hwy. 84 and Hwy. 319 now bypass about three-quarters of the town. (Both highways are federal). (...)
Downtown Thomasville has been chosen as one of five "Great American Main Street" cities in the world and one of the 100 best retirement towns in the country. (...) Thomasville's unemployment rate for December was 4.6 percent. That's slightly higher than the Georgia state average of 4.0 percent, but lower than the national average of 5.4 percent. Thomas County's unemployment rate was 3.4 percent.
It's true that a bypass can make a downtown area more pedestrian-friendly. Thomasville residents seem to be very happy with the bypass, so Eufaula might find it beneficial as well.
