Bradley County residents press officials to close or restrict Mowery Road after repeated crashes

Residents living along Mowery Road told the Bradley County Road Committee on Thursday that the narrow, steep road has become dangerous and needs either closure or significant safety changes.

Jody Grama, 355 Mowery Road, said a recent incident prompted her to call county staff: "A lady was passing my son in a truck, and she had no idea that she ran him off the road, and he hit a tree. Luckily, he was okay." Grama said she requested striping to help drivers stay on the proper side of the road but was told the roadway is too narrow to be restriped. She urged the county to find a solution for her neighborhood of roughly "22 to 25 homes."

The county road superintendent, Tom Collins of the Bradley County Road Department, described the site as hazardous and said typical countermeasures are limited by terrain. "It's a hazardous road, especially during snow," Collins said. He said barricades placed when the road is closed are frequently moved by motorists and that installing guardrail would be infeasible in places because the pavement falls off to a bluff. "I don't like to sacrifice safety for convenience," Collins added.

Sim Wilson, who said he lives at 221 Mowery Road and that he works with traffic at the sheriff's office, recommended stepped-up speed controls and improved signage rather than widening the road. "If you could just focus on controlling speed and increasing signage you would be much farther along," Wilson said, and offered sheriff's-office radar enforcement to gather speed data.

Other residents cited heavy cut-through traffic to Walker Valley and Lockhart schools, repeated vehicle rollovers and dumped trash along the road. Richard Roberts, 298 Mowery Road, said large trucks sometimes use the route despite no-truck signage and that GPS navigation sends some trucks onto the narrow segment, creating turn-around problems.

County staff and commissioners responded that options include installing more signage, adding a formal turnaround if the road is dead-ended, closing the road to through traffic, or pursuing abandonment and quitclaiming the closed portion to adjoining landowners. County Attorney Crystal Friberg explained that closing a road and abandoning a road are different legal processes: closing may leave the road on the county list and still subject to county maintenance, while abandonment requires surveys and deed work and results in the county relinquishing maintenance responsibility.

The committee did not take a final vote. Commissioners and staff agreed to hold a follow-up Road Committee meeting on Oct. 16 at 9 a.m., and county staff said county administrator Lori (last name not specified in the record) will mail notices to nearby property owners before that meeting. Tom Collins said the road department would examine options for a turnaround at the proposed dead-end and continue to consult with property owners who may be able to donate a small parcel for that purpose.

Residents and staff also discussed interim measures: increased enforcement, temporary barricading when conditions are dangerous, and the county's litter program helping to clear illegal dumping.

The county recorded no formal motion to close or abandon the road at the meeting; officials described next steps as information-gathering and community notification ahead of the Oct. 16 follow-up.

Residents may present additional comments and evidence at the Oct. 16 meeting, after which the committee could forward a recommendation to the full commission and, if abandonment is pursued, to the planning commission for the statutory petition and survey process.