Warren County government is moving forward with a study on Short Mountain Road to consider lowering the 45 mph speed limit.
The county Highway and Bridge Committee met Tuesday. In attendance were Gary Prater, chair, Randy England, Gary Martin, David Rhea and Blaine Wilcher.
According to Road Superintendent Levie Glenn, he has asked for the study and consideration of any grant money that could be used to purchase devices to encourage motorist to slow down or buy new road signage if the speed limit is reduced.
“I wonder how long that process will take,” said Prater.
Glenn added, “Sometimes it’s pretty slow. I wanted to give you an update. I have no idea how long it will be before we hear anything.”
A measure to reduce the speed limit came under consideration in June at the request of local resident Billy Goff.
“There have been nine fatalities that I know of in the last three, four or five years,” said Goff. “No more than five years. I don’t know how many accidents there have been in that time. Quite a few.”
The latest bad wreck on Short Mountain Road took the life of Ashley Celestino, 19, who died June 13. Short Mountain Road is extremely curvy and narrow. Because the road doesn’t have shoulders, it presents problems for motorists.
County Executive Herschel Wells presented information he obtained from Sheriff Jackie Matheny that in a one-year period, from June 15, 2015 to June 16, 2016, there were 14 accidents in the area located between the three-way stop sign to the county line.
At that time, Glenn informed the committee that an impact study would have to be done, as well as a review of the accidents to determine what the contributing factors were in them, in order to justify reducing the speed limit.