Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Mountain Brook Councilman Billy Pritchard talks during a council meeting at Mountain Brook City Hall on Monday, March 11, 2024.
The Mountain Brook City Council decided at its March 11 meeting that it would not pursue the installation of a guardrail on Euclid Avenue at Azalea Road.
That location was the site of a pair of catastrophic accidents, one in 2015 and another this year. Traffic engineer Richard Caudle said the primary contributing factors in each crash were speed and motorists driving under the influence.
“A guardrail is the only possible solution to really mitigate the catastrophic crashes,” Caudle said. “But since that has occurred twice in the last nine or 10 years, I do not see that the frequency, in my opinion, warrants the expense of the guardrail we’re talking about.”
Councilman Billy Pritchard said he has lived up the hill and around the corner from that intersection for 40 years.
“Unfortunately, when people go 100 miles per hour, bad things happen,” Pritchard said. “This is not going to stop somebody from going 100 miles per hour, particularly if they’re inebriated. I don’t think this is warranted, given the circumstances.”
Area residents who attended the council work session before the action meeting said they are against installing a guardrail.
“For the time being, we’re not considering a guardrail," Council President Virginia Smith said,
In other action, the council:
- Agreed to a proposal from Schoel Engineering regarding the Field No. 1 area fill project for additional parking.
- Heard discussion about changing the city’s ordinance concerning dirty and dilapidated awnings. The discussion will continue at a future council meeting.
- Granted conditional use of the old Chester’s test kitchen site, at 2037 Cahaba Road in English Village, as a lunchtime restaurant.
- Agreed to have Bhate Environmental Associates perform an asbestos sampling survey for Fire Station No. 2 for the former Knesseth Israel synagogue property on Overton Road, beyond the fire station.
- Approved to submit a grant application for the Irondale Furnace Trail extension to the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
- Authorized an agreement with United Ability’s Gone for Good program for a community document destruction and e-waste recycling event on Saturday, April 6, from noon to 1 p.m. at Mountain Brook High School.
- Appointed Martha Self to the Board of Zoning Adjustment.
- Appointed Cleo Kathryn Gorman to the Village Design Review Committee.
- Appointed Graham Smith as the council liaison to the Environmental and Sustainability Committee.
- Reappointed John Doody to the Finance Committee.
