News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
New four-way stops along Algood’s Main Street appear to be working to lower speeds in the area.
Algood Police Chief Dale Armour said the four-way stops at 4th Avenue as well as at 2nd Avenue have done just what the city had hoped. He said the changes took residents some getting used to, but the Police Department has prioritized education over enforcement.
“That’s a long stretch and people just inadvertently just go flying through there,” Armour said. “So, it’s helped there. Again, we did an education thing. We haven’t written that many tickets. I can’t give you an exact number, but I know we don’t write that many on those two intersections.”
Armour said the department has parked unmanned cars near the intersections to keep drivers alert and encourage them to pay close attention to signage and speed. He said when they do stop people for running new stop signs, typically they give a warning and a reminder of the traffic updates.
“Algood’s growing, our population’s growing, and our traffic is,” Armour said. “We realized we had a problem at Main and 4th. If you were trying to get through that intersection, the oncoming traffic wasn’t stopping, so it was backing up on Main Street.”
Armour said downtown Algood has been revitalized in recent years, and pedestrian safety has become a major factor in leadership’s decision-making as more people begin to walk the streets. Armour said pedestrians and drivers are safer than ever when traveling through downtown, and the efforts to smooth out traffic flow have been a success.
Armour said changes like these require extensive research. He said the city conducts traffic studies in problem areas and based on their finding, they work on solutions like, in this instance, additional stop signs.
“We’ve had an emphasis on traffic enforcement now for the last several years,” Armour said. “As you know, we’ve had two fatal accidents out on Highway 111 in the last five years, so that’s something that we’re trying to work on.”
Armour said there are other areas in town that are notorious for speeding and may see growing attention from the city government. He said the Quinland Lake Road and Mirandy Road intersections with Highway 111 are two major concerns. He said the city cannot change state highways, but he has reached out to the Tennessee Highway Patrol and requested increased enforcement in those areas.
