Community association of St. Elmo to present concerns to City Council

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The Community Association of Historic St. Elmo says they have issues with TDOT’s response to their concerns on speeding along St. Elmo Avenue. 

TDOT sent us the following statement:

“Our records show that SR 17 has between 2-3% truck traffic. SR 17 connects with Georgia SR 193.  At a meeting TDOT attended about this issue with local officials last summer, there was discussion of truck prohibitions or restrictions, but being so near the state line, any kind of truck restrictions would need a holistic approach and consideration of the roadway network in Georgia too. For a route that has truck traffic, our minimum lane width requirement is 11 feet.

There was also mention of adding speed humps along SR 17. Speed humps are typically placed along low-speed routes with low traffic volumes. We do not allow those on the state routes for the following reasons:

•            SR 17 has roughly 13,000 vehicles/day, which is certainly not considered to be a low traffic volume.

•            Safety concerns they present given the traffic volume and speed on state routes.

•            First responders such as fire, EMS, and police do not need any impediments in order to provide a timely response to an emergency.

Formal requests to remove a state route designation from one of our routes can be made by cities to our commissioner. Our staff will work to gauge the validity of the request based on several factors and variables affecting the system and help to render a verdict.”

The Community Association argues that the safety of residents should be the most important item. 

They say they want to see higher police presence, unmanned speed cameras installed, and lanes tightened up to promote traffic calming over the two mile stretch of road. 

Nathan Bird, the President of the Community Association, said, “Over a distance of two miles, if you drive 25 miles per hour, it takes about a minute and a half longer then if you drive 35 miles per hour. That is not a huge difference to your daily commute. I ask that people drive 25 miles per hour.” 

Bird also says the speed reduction reduces the risk of traffic fatalities from 40% to 10%. 

The Community Association will read the letter to City Council on Tuesday and hopes to hear an official response from them on the matter.