August 22, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
For the third month in a row, the county commission Monday night will consider a speed limit request.
During Thursday night’s “Committee of the Whole” meeting of the County Commission, Fourth District member Janice Fish Stewart said a constituent who resides on Puckett’s Point Road has asked that the posted speed limit there be changed from 30 to 20 miles per hour due to safety concerns.
“He (constituent) talked about the traffic on that road and how fast people drive. He said there have been fatalities and serious accidents on that road. There have been two wrecks there within the past eight weeks. Currently the speed limit posted is 30 miles per hour half a mile from the Cookeville Highway intersection. He is proposing that the sign be changed to 20 mph which would make the road a continuous speed limit throughout and that a “Reduce Speed Ahead” sign be placed 100 feet from the intersection of Cookeville Highway. He said the general consensus of neighbors on that road is that this should be done because of increased traffic and dangers due to speeding especially when two vehicles pass each other,” said Commissioner Stewart.
Fifth District Commissioner Anita Puckett questioned the effectiveness of posted speed limit signs with little or no enforcement due to limited law enforcement manpower and she called for consistency if the county is intent on continuing to establish speed limits.
“We should contact law enforcement and find out how fast these people were going when they had these wrecks (Puckett’s Point Road). I guarantee you it wasn’t 30 miles per hour. I’m having issues with this. We have opened a can of worms that we can’t close. They already have a 30 mph speed limit (on Puckett’s Point Road). If it were 55 miles per hour with no speed limit I would totally agree but they already have a 30 mile per hour limit and now they want it to be 20 mph. I guarantee you with these 2 wrecks they were going faster than 30 miles per hour. If there is nobody to enforce this it’s not going to change. There could be two more wrecks next week with 20 mph signs. This is something we should be careful about and we should be consistent in the county. If we are going to put speed limit signs on these country roads we need to be consistent on all country roads. If 55 mph is the general consensus that the state sets, but we’re going to put 30 mph limits then put 30 mph limits on all county roads not 20 here, 30 there, and 35 somewhere else. We need to be consistent with what we put on all these county roads,” said Commissioner Puckett.
In July, the county commission voted to establish a posted 35 mile per hour speed limit on the Ragland Bottom Road to the US Army Corps of Engineers line and a 30 mile per hour limit on the Four Seasons Road from the Young Bend Cemetery to the Corps of Engineers line. A 30 mile per hour speed limit was also established on Dearman Street from the Smithville City Limits to Bright Hill Road. The portion of Dearman Street in the city is already posted at 30 miles per hour.
In June, the county commission established a posted 35 mile per hour speed limit on the Johnson’s Chapel Road.
Last November, the commission voted to establish a 35 mile per hour speed limit on Tramel Branch Road near Alexandria and to have signs posted to warn the public.
In each case, the actions were taken in response to either petitions or verbal public requests.
Under state law, the speed limit on any county road is 55 miles per hour unless the county commission acts to change it.
The DeKalb County Commission will meet in regular monthly session Monday night, August 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center.
The agenda is as follows:
Sales Tax report
Budget amendments
Annual financial reports for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020
Discuss a request to rename Felts Cemeterv Road to Billings Cemetery Road
Discuss a request to name a private drive Peace Passage
Discuss a request to remove the end portion of Oak Drive at Lakeview Mountain Estates from the county road list
Appointment of a commissioner to the DeKalb Utility District
Discuss a request to establish a speed limit on Puckett’s Point Road to 20 miles per hour
Any other business properly presented
Notaries