Photo by Erin Nelson.
A truck makes its way along Cherokee Road toward U.S. 280 in Mountain Brook in July 2019.
Elizabeth Jewell led a contingent of Cherokee Road residents who appealed to the Mountain Brook City Council for sidewalks and guardrails along a sometimes-dangerous stretch of road.
Jewell cited major accidents that have occurred on Cherokee Road between Old Leeds Road and Overbrook Road during the council meeting on Oct. 9.
“There have been two cars that have flipped at that same spot,” she said. “Something that we're very passionate about is having guardrails along the golf course there on Cherokee Road, on the Mountain Brook Club side.”
Jewell and neighbors noted that ponding happens on Cherokee Road during heavy rain. They said this impedes pedestrian traffic and motorists who drive too close to the edge of the road can find themselves in a huge ditch.
Public Works Director Ronnie Vaughn said there are things city crews can do to improve the situation, including guardrails, freshening sideline stripes and adding reflectors.
“We’ll proceed with some of these, what I would call relatively immediate, relatively easy, city fixes and certainly looking at it more closely,” Council President Virginia Smith said. “This does not include the sidewalk right now, but we can certainly look at that and consider that.”
Smith said she thinks the improvements that were mentioned during the meeting would help, at least with the danger of people running off the edge of the road.
In other action, the council:
- Announced that a traffic study indicated that the speed limit on Spring Hill Road and Hermitage Road did not need to be lowered.
- Approved change orders for the Jemison Park project.
- Agreed to service agreements with All In Mountain Brook, the Birmingham Zoo and Birmingham Botanical Gardens at $10,000 apiece, Prescott House at $5,000 and Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce at $130,000.
- Accepted the proposal with Wicked Solutions for the strategic planning project for the city.
- Authorized the transit service agreement with Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority.
