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Bruce Road still an issue for Boaz residents
Published March 4, 2010
The deep, hilly waves of Bruce Road east of Alabama Highway 168 remain a concern for some Boaz residents.
“It’s fixing to be a political issue in that town,” said Edwin Allison, of Bruce Road.
A recent accident sparked Allison’s latest complaint.
On Dec. 28 at 11:45 p.m., two 17-year-olds in a 2005 Nissan Altima collided with a 2002 Ford F-150 driven by a 69-year-old man. The teens, from Sardis City and Attalla, were injured.
Police reported the Altima crossed the center line, hit the Ford, left the roadway and flipped a number of times. Authorities estimated the Altima was traveling 55 mph, which is 20 mph over the speed limit of 35.
Allison said residents have been asking for solutions to their safety concerns from city officials off and on for more than 20 years.
“They won’t lower the speed limit,” he said. “We can’t get them to enforce the speed limits half the time. I’m tired of it. One of the hills is called Tickle Belly Hill because kids fly over it at 70 or 80 miles per hour and get airborne.”
Allison said residents have requested reduced speed limits, speed bumps and stop signs. City officials solicited recommendations from the Alabama Department of Transportation. An ALDOT engineer said reducing the speed limit, placing speed humps and installing stop signs were not viable solutions. The engineer recommended speed display units and random speed enforcement by police.
Boaz Police Chief Terry Davis is well aware of residents’ concerns, saying Bruce is one of a number of problem roads that include portions of Alabama Highway 205, Bethsaida, McVille, Roden and Summerville.
“I take every complaint seriously, but Bruce Road is not any worse, in my opinion, than any of the other roads,” Davis said. “A lot of people from Aroney and Sardis use Bruce Road as a cut-through road.
“We run a lot of radar on all of them and will continue to.”
Davis said he has instructed officers to increase patrols and run radar on all the problem roads.
“We cannot be there all the time,” he said, referring to Bruce. “We're doing the best we can, but we have to patrol all areas of Boaz.”
Davis said Boaz has used a speed monitoring unit on Bruce Road in the past. The mobile unit sits on the roadside and displays speeds on a monitor as vehicles approach, so motorists can see how fast they are driving. Boaz shares use of a state-funded monitoring unit with other departments in the county.
“We don't own it,” he said. “We have to schedule the use of it with all the other departments within the county. Our name is on the list to get it back as soon as possible, probably in the next couple of weeks.”
The Albertville Police Department recently purchased its own speed monitoring trailer thanks to an anonymous $10,000 donation.
Davis cited six-month statistics from July 28 to Jan. 28, showing the number of speeding tickets issued on Bruce and three of the other problem roads.
Officers issued 34 tickets on Bruce, mostly to motorists driving faster than 50 mph. Davis said officers also issued 19 warning citations during the same time period.
On Bethsaida, officers issued 31 speeding tickets; on McVille, 72; and on Summerville, six.
Speeding tickets
Number of speeding tickets issued during the six-month period from July 28 to Jan. 28:
• McVille, 71
• Bruce Road, 34
• Bethsaida, 31
• Summerville, 6
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