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Residents warn Kelly Creek Road widening will invite faster traffic; engineer cites 15 crashes in five years
Summary
Residents urged commissioners to slow or rethink a widening project on Kelly Creek Road, saying they were "completely blindsided" and citing fatalities and frequent high-speed crashes. County engineers said the project adds paved shoulders and rumble strips, noting 15 accidents in five years and that design choices aim to reduce lane‑departure crashes.
Residents of the Kelly Creek Road corridor told the St. Clair County Commission on June 23 they were surprised and alarmed by plans to add pavement and shoulders to the rural route, saying the changes could increase speeds and make their road more dangerous.
"Completely blindsided. We found out when Batco showed up," said resident Blake Wester, who said he has lived on Kelly Creek Road his whole life and described an increase in through‑traffic since congestion on US‑411 began diverting drivers onto local roads.
Jack Butler, who identified himself as owner of Butler Farms along the route, told commissioners the property has been struck repeatedly by out‑of‑control vehicles and said a recent fatality was part of a multiyear pattern: "We've had in the last four years we've had one fatality and... at least three other excursions into our fields." Both residents urged lower posted speeds, more enforcement and stronger site‑specific safety measures.
County Engineer Clay Phillips said the project team focused on reducing lane‑departure crashes. "There's 15 accidents occurred along that road in the last five years and majority of those accidents are considered lane departure accidents," Phillips said, describing the planned work as adding a two‑foot paved shoulder with rumble strips and improving approach guardrails near the bridge rather than widening the travel lane.
Phillips said the rumble strips on the new paved shoulder will be positioned "6 to 8 inches" outside the white stripe, and clarified that the extra pavement is a paved shoulder rather than a widened travel lane. Commissioners and staff said those design choices are meant to keep the travel lane the same width while adding a safety shoulder and audible warnings for drivers who drift from the lane.
Residents countered that adding shoulder pavement without a redesign of the bridge at the road's terminus could create a new bottleneck and encourage higher speeds, which would move crash risk rather than eliminate it. Several speakers warned the change would make Kelly Creek Road a faster connector for drivers avoiding congestion on US‑411.
What happens next: Engineers said the project is proceeding and the county will consider additional mitigations, including signage, speed management and review of sight‑distance in key curves. Commissioners said they would seek to balance safety improvements intended to reduce lane‑departure crashes with residents' concerns about induced traffic.
