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Resident urges Germantown to improve safety on Forest Hill Road
Summary
A longtime Germantown resident urged the Board to act on longstanding safety concerns on Forest Hill Road, citing narrow lanes, close-set trees, lack of shoulders and poor visibility after decades of rising traffic.
Dr. Dwayne Gaither urged the Germantown Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Feb. 10 to expedite safety improvements on Forest Hill Road, describing decades of increased traffic and hazardous conditions along the narrow two-lane stretch.
Gaither told the board he moved to Germantown in 1965, has lived in the Glen Alden neighborhood since 1985, and that his six children attended local schools. He said that while Poplar Avenue has been widened over the past 60 years, Forest Hill Road has not, and that the road lacks shoulders, lighting and sufficient sightlines.
Gaither said there are more than 90 trees on the east side of Forest Hill Road within about 15 feet of the pavement, several with diameters greater than 12 inches and some within a foot of the pavement. He described restricted visibility because of the hilly topography, no safe passing areas when service vehicles are present, and examples of fatal and nonfatal crashes over many years. He said emergency vehicles can be impeded and that collisions between large vehicles leave almost no clearance.
“At my lifetime, there have been too many fatal accidents, too many nonfatal accidents that might have been avoided with a wider and safer road,” Gaither said. He asked the board not to delay improvements and requested guidance on how citizens could help expedite the process.
The board read the Citizens to Be Heard rules before the comment and did not provide a substantive response during the meeting; the item was part of the public-comment portion of the agenda. Gaither provided his address on the record and used his allotted three minutes. The board closed the Citizens to Be Heard portion after his remarks.
Speakers on this item: Dr. Dwayne Gaither (resident).
