For months, a commute from downtown Selma to anywhere west of Old Town took nearly 30 minutes during rush hour. A drive into the heart of Selma took equally as long.

Starting when school let out, traffic slowly built up on J.L. Chestnut Boulevard and Cahaba Road. Taking a detour to Highland Road wasn’t any faster either. During certain times of the day, it may have been faster to ride a bicycle to West Selma.

Some businesses also suffered. Because motorists were forced to use J.L. Chestnut Boulevard, or another detour, businesses on Dallas Avenue didn’t see quite a s much traffic. If another store along the detour route offered similar products, there was no reason to frequent the West Selma businesses.

With the Dallas Avenue Bridge open ahead of schedule, hopefully both traffic problems and a lack of customers for some businesses will vanish.

With two routes into West Selma, some of the traffic on Cahaba Road will likely be alleviated, which is especially important with the 1A to 3A Alabama High School Athletic Association Track Meet in a few days. Without the bridge opening one week ahead of schedule, the thousands of additional visitors would have only compounded the normal traffic problems associated with the bridge closure.

We also hope that Selma and Dallas County residents will return to the West Selma businesses that they once frequented.

In many instances, you don’t appreciate something until it’s gone. And, with the Dallas Avenue Bridge, we are certainly happy to see cars rolling across it.