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Wlaf1450Danger at several turnoffs on Hwy 63-General Stiner Hwy was once again discussed by county commissioners
The Middlesboro Road (Davis Chapel)-Wildwood Circle turn-offs was a topic at Monday’s county commission workshop. (PHOTO COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON VIA EAGLE I)
By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- The “danger” of several turnoffs on Highway 63-General Stiner Highway was once again discussed at Monday’s commission workshop, along with the fact that gravel is still on the road at the turnoffs. Commissioners asked County Mayor Jack Lynch to reach out to the Tennessee Department of Transportation about the problem to see if a solution could be found.
Commissioner Beverly Hall brought the issue up again and multiple commissioners said they were still receiving calls about the problems on the highway, especially the Davis Chapel turnoff and the one up by Big O’s and on up by the old Frontier Store.
“The lady that contacted me had some suggestions, and I am all for them, we need a light at the turnoff at Davis Chapel; at night you can’t see which lane and the shoulder of the road is not a turn lane, but if you are sitting at the red light and they come up the shoulder like it’s a turning lane, there’s going to be a bad wreck,” Hall said. She also said she had someone tell her the red lights were not synchronized either and that “the gravel” on the roads at the turnoffs were still an issue.
This issue has been brought up many times by many commissioners over the past eight months. Back in the spring, commissioners had passed a resolution asking the Tennessee Department of Transportation to “investigate” multiple turnoffs on the highway, citing they turn too sharply and are dangerous.
In early May, State Sen. Ken Yager held a meeting with County Mayor Jack Lynch, along with Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Commissioner Butch Eley and TDOT’s Director of Project Operations Dexter Justis.
At that meeting, state officials said they planned on “bringing their own forces in” to fix the turnoff problems on the recently paved highway “once the contractor has finished and moved out.”
“Didn’t they tell us three months ago that they were going to fix those,” Commissioner Rusty Orick said on Monday evening.
Orick told commissioners he was still getting calls on it too and that “someone had told him citizens were discussing getting signatures on the issue to bring before the commission.”
“I told him the commission has stayed on top of this, and we’ve been told that it’s going to be fixed. But it should never have been done that way to begin with, those lanes are a straight turn. Always at major intersections you should have a turning lane,” Orick said.
Commissioner Dewayne Gibson said he had received recent complaints about it, too.
“Well, the point is, nothing is being done,” Hall said.
Commission Chair Johnny Bruce asked if County Mayor Jack Lynch could get in touch with TDOT again.
Lynch said he would reach out to someone in TDOT and talk about the issue again. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-10/15/2024-6AM)
Thank you all so much for continuing to address this issue. I live right where the work stopped and merging takes place and turning into my drive way is terrible. I cannot tell you how many times I have almost been rear ended. They placed guard rails so it is a right hand turn to get into my driveway. These intersections are so dangerous and having gravel is past being ridiculous on a newly paved road. TDOT needs to do better.
There is NO turn off lanes at any traffic lights anywhere. Some FEW people use the emergency pull off shoulder for a turn off lane but that’s an accident fixing to happen. Everyone turning off has to wait till the light changes before they reach the turn off and that slows down ALL the traffic. Why aren’t there ANY turn off lanes ANYWHERE ??????
Put a turn lane going into Davis Chapel from the highway. Turn the gravel there into a paved area.
If people are worried about not being able to see turn lanes, maybe paint some arrows to indicate turn lanes.
Turning either right or left in the confluence of Hwy 63, State Lane and other intersecting roads approaching the traffic light at TDOT headquarters is a white knuckle experience, made worse at night. There are no arrows marking the road lanes. Drivers wind up driving toward each other in the mid-lane between the 4 lane. Surely highway engineers and highway constructors could have cooperated on a safer way to exit right or left (either direction). Correct?