1. Name the problem. [Example: Turning left onto Route 60 from Route 219 paralyzes north-south traffic.]

2. List symptoms of the problem (meaning what results from the unsolved problem). [Slowed commerce, school buses having to pick up students earlier, wasted fuel, increased air-pollution, increased stress, tourists and shoppers avoiding the area, well-meaning drivers causing accidents or dangerous situations, pedestrians injured or feeling unsafe, left-turning trucks hopping curbs and damaging signs and buildings….]

3. List factors that make the problem worse. [Big trucks using Route 219 through town, no bypass, narrow streets, heavy lunch-time traffic, Fort Savannah hill, no left-turning lanes….]

4. List factors that lessen the problem. [Some drivers volunteering to make only right turns onto Route 60, drivers avoiding the intersection….]

5. Brainstorm solutions. [Disallow turning left onto Route 60, disallow turning left from Route 219 anywhere in the city, construct left-only turning-lanes and remove parking spaces on Route 219, disallow left turns during peak flow, construct a bypass, make all streets parallel to Route 60 into one-way streets….]

6. List offshoot problems that result from new solutions. [Heavy traffic just diverts to other areas that can’t handle the increase, constructing bypass is enormously expensive, land and homes get taken via eminent domain….]

7. Collect data/conduct research. [What are the traffic laws? Who controls the intersection and has jurisdiction? Interview people who have already addressed the problem. What were their findings and solutions? How much does a bypass cost and how would funds be raised?  Where and how have similar problems been fixed? Why are the downtown intersections made no-left-turns during the Golf Tournament and the State Fair? Conduct an experiment by temporarily making the Route 219/60 intersection a no-left-turn one.]

8. Decide upon the best solution.

9. Enact the best solution.