Story By Donald Campbell
It was a busy time at the Wills Valley Recreation Center in Fort Payne Tuesday night, as representatives from the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) listened to members of the public share their thoughts on suggestions to proposed alternative routes for Alabama Highway 35 as it comes off Lookout Mountain.
Upon arrival, attendees were given information from ALDOT officials about the purpose of the study before entering one of the meeting rooms at the rec center. Once inside the main room, participants could take a look at maps detailing the area in question and see some of the possible options available to consider taking action on in the future. When looking at the map, there were six suggestions agency officials had identified as possibilities, ranging in scope from relatively smaller to much more extensive. One option they noted was to change the curve where 5th Street Northeast and Wallace Avenue met at Joe’s Truck Stop, making it a gentler curve in the process. Four other considerations involved developing a route that would run east of the railroad tracks, keeping parallel to existing streets like Turner Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, and Tyler Avenue. One of these suggestions would then open onto 8th Street Southeast, while the others would run into the South Y. Of these three, two would feature an overpass at the railroad tracks, while the third would have a graded crossing of the tracks, much like what city streets already have in place. The last identified possibility would have trucks follow a different route off Lookout Mountain, crossing over Beason Gap Road, continuing down into the valley between the former Valley Joist facility and Desoto Printing, then joining Greenhill Boulevard near North Pointe Apartments. Participants were also asked to identify challenges they would most like to see addressed, including congestion, accessibility to various community resources, and emergency service response.
Over the course of two hours, more than 50 people came through the session, seeing what ALDOT officials had identified as potential solutions to the issue and sharing what thoughts they had on what they might like to see. There were those who expressed concerns about having to buy up land and force residents out of their homes to make some of the suggested ideas a reality, while some were also worried that some of the options could have a significantly negative impact in the neighborhoods surrounding the. ALDOT spokesman Seth Burkett said Tuesday night’s meeting was all about gathering more information from residents to understand the many concerns residents may have and see what other ideas could possibly be looked into in the future. With this, he emphasized that none of the plans depicted on the maps at the meeting were plans set in stone, but were simply ideas the agency had formulated and possibilities that had been identified.
“It’s certainly important for us to gather the public’s input so that they can have a say and a hand in shaping the transportation improvements in their area and what they are going to be,” Burkeytt said. “We want to include the residents of Fort Payne in the decision making now and going forward, trying to determine what may be a viable solution for something down the road. It is about things that could lead to future proposals.”
For those who may have been unable to attend Tuesday’s session, ALDOT officials have an online comment form available to accept submissions, which would be open until June 12th. This form can be found at ALDOTinvolved.com and selecting the “Public Meetings Schedule” option at the bottom of the page, while comments can also be emailed to fortpayne-PEL@dot.state.al.us. Once the comment window closed, Burkett said ALDOT would take all of the comments and thoughts that had been received and refine it all, as well as consider the possibility of future meetings to discuss possible ways to move forward with any suggested plans.
