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State officials say only that they will study the situation by reviewing the past three years of accident reports and are committed to making the intersection safer.
Commissioner Bobby Fox made the motion Tuesday night to endorse placing a traffic light at the intersection. Fox used a hand-drawn map of the intersection to illustrate the difficulty of traffic from S.R. 82 (Webb Road) pulling out onto 231.
"I personally think we need a traffic light to get these cars stopped," said Fox, "where you've got an opportunity to pull across the road and get safely across .... If somebody's got a better answer, I want to hear it."
Commissioner Bobby Vannatta, although he eventually supported the traffic light resolution, raised questions about it, saying trucking companies have told him that a traffic light at that location would make it more dangerous, because trucks traveling on 231 would have trouble stopping, especially in rainy weather, and might end up running red lights at the location.
Other commissioners, along with private citizen Lloyd Davis, said that flashing signals in advance of the traffic signal could help alleviate that problem. Such signals are timed to warn drivers that the light ahead of them is either red or about to turn red.
Webb School parent Scott Cocanougher and Cascade High School senior Grant Davis both appeared before the commission to endorse the idea of a traffic signal.
Cocanougher said there are 30 students driving through the intersection daily and another 75 who drive through there regularly.
"Though it is an issue for some folks, those children are important to this county, and to me personally," he said.
Davis presented a petition containing 768 names and said last week's weather and the school closure it caused delayed the petition from being signed by even more people. He said organizers expect 1,000 names on the petition by the end of this week.
"Everybody's interest tonight is making the intersection as safe as possible," said Ali Farhangi of Tennessee Department of Transportation. He outlined the interim measures which TDOT is taking at the intersection: installing flashing warning lights in both directions, and adding rumble strips to 82 to warn drivers as they approach the intersection. He said the rumble strips will be in place within two weeks.
He said TDOT would continue to study the situation and review the past three years of accident reports to see if a traffic signal is needed.
Farhangi said that addressing the problem by lowering speed limits will have no effect unless those speed limits are properly enforced.
The 16 commissioners in attendance voted unanimously in favor of the resolution asking the state to place a traffic signal at the intersection.
Brenda Golden, 17, Church Cross Road, was dead at the scene of the accident last month at that intersection. The van driven by Golden, with fellow student Victoria Atwell as a passenger, pulled out from S.R. 82 attempting to make a left turn onto U.S. 231, according to State Trooper Patrick Turner. In doing so, it pulled into the path of a northbound tractor-trailer owned by Greatwide and driven by Norman Smith of Lawrenceburg.
Finance report
County finance director Robert Daniel reported on the recent county audit and said that the county's sales tax collections for the fiscal year so far are $220,000 down from the same point last year.
"I thought it would have bottomed out by now," said Daniel, "but it hasn't."
Daniel said that the old Harris Middle School is being boarded up, at a cost of $5,510, in response to recent vandalism. The money is considered an emergency expense, he said.
Other action
* The commission approved the annual list of county-maintained roads.
* The commission approved the monthly list of notary applicants.
* The commission deferred action on a replacement for Joe McCurry on the Bedford County Emergency Medical Services board.
* The commission endorsed the idea of selling a house, jointly owned by the county and the City of Shelbyville, on North Main Street and using the proceeds to purchase land for an industrial park.