Residents warn widening Kelly Creek Road will invite more speed and trucks; engineers say rumble strips and paved shoulders are planned

Residents who live along Kelly Creek Road told the St. Clair County Commission June 23 that an upcoming project to bring the road up to 'major collector' standards will worsen safety and quality of life by inviting faster traffic and heavier trucks. The county engineer said the planned improvements focus on paved shoulders and rumble strips to reduce lane‑departure crashes, and noted federal funding incentives require certain design standards.

"Completely blindsided," said Blake Wester (speaker S10), who has lived on Kelly Creek Road for 43 years, describing mornings when 55 cars line up at 5:00 a.m. to turn and warning that widening will make the road a faster thoroughfare. "By that being the 119, they're not talking about widening the bridge so you're going to have a choke point there," Wester said.

Jack Butler (speaker S11) of Butler Farms described a recent fatality and several crashes that resulted in vehicles ending up in his fields, and urged engineering changes to reduce speeds and improve sight lines. "We have... had 1 fatality and... at least 3 other excursions into our fields," Butler said, asking the commission to consider slower speed limits and better enforcement.

County Engineer Clay Phillips (speaker S3) told the commission the project will add a paved shoulder — effectively two extra feet of pavement along the travelway — and install rumble strips 6–8 inches outside the white line. He described the shoulder as a paved safety improvement, not a widened travel lane, and said the countermeasures are intended to address the project's 15 recorded accidents over the past five years, many of which are lane‑departure crashes. "This is one of the most effective countermeasures for lane departures," he said.

Commissioners acknowledged the competing priorities: federal standards and funding eligibility for the larger US‑411 project favor certain design elements, while residents emphasized immediate local safety and bridge‑capacity constraints. The chair asked staff to direct the county engineer to examine design tweaks that preserve eligibility for federal grants while limiting negative effects on adjoining properties and local traffic patterns.

Next steps: The engineer will continue site reviews and report design options to the commission as the project advances, including guardrail relocations, signage and possible placement adjustments for rumble strips to balance safety and property impacts.