Committee forwards school pickup safety concerns after residents report cars blocking turn lane near Littler Creek School

The Sumner County Emergency Services Committee voted Jan. 6, 2025, to add traffic-safety concerns around Littler Creek School to its agenda and to support a highway-committee resolution asking the school board and engineers to review road layout at Hunters Lane, Latimer Lane, Long Hollow Pike and Wolfpack Way.

The move followed multiple public commenters who described congested pickup and drop-off patterns that they said force motorists into the turn or oncoming lanes and create blind-spot hazards. Michael Clark, a resident of 102 Tealba Trail, said the staging for school drop-off has regularly backed up the hill and blocked the turn lane. "We have counted as many as 22 cars going up that hill," Clark said, adding that blocked lanes make it difficult or impossible for residents to access their driveways.

The committee's action asks the school board to review safety and traffic along the routes named in the highway resolution and requests an engineering review of the road layout to address what committee members called "illegal traffic patterns." Committee members also discussed seeking better coordination with the sheriff's department for enforcement of parking and lane violations and suggested the county could withhold acceptance of Wolfpack Way as a county road until staging and safety issues are corrected.

Residents described near-miss crashes and repeated blocking of a small four-car turn lane used for neighborhood access. Tammy Kimbrough, who said she lives near the top of the hill, described a vehicle that entered her driveway and nearly struck her at the mailbox: "I almost got hit twice. One time, I actually thought I was hit." Another resident, Kathy Arlin of 231 Shipaway Drive, told the committee she regularly faces difficulty exiting onto Long Hollow Pike because of heavy school-area traffic.

Committee members said the problem is multi‑jurisdictional: the roads are county-owned in part, some segments are state highways, and the school system controls site staging and entry times. To address the mix of responsibilities, members recommended a multi-pronged approach: immediate enforcement for clear violations, asking the school board to change pickup procedures or allow additional staging on school property, and asking highway engineers and state officials to accelerate or evaluate longer-term changes such as turn lanes or traffic signals.

The highway-committee resolution, as read to the Emergency Services Committee, requests that the school board review safety and traffic concerns at Latimer Lane and Hunters Lane, Latimer Lane and Long Hollow Pike, and Hunters Lane and Wolfpack Way; it also asks that engineers revisit road layout to address illegal traffic patterns and safety concerns. Committee members voted to support that resolution and to forward the matter to the full county commission.

Chair members said the committee will attempt to coordinate with the sheriff's office on enforcement and with the school system on staging, and that the full commission may combine related resolutions from different committees when the item advances.

If the board-level resolution moves forward, the committee and speakers said they expect further coordination with the school system, the county highway department and, where applicable, the Tennessee Department of Transportation or state legislators for state‑road segments.

Votes at the committee were taken by voice; the transcript records the motions as passing, but the meeting record does not include a recorded roll‑call tally in the public transcript excerpt.