By Vanessa Overholser - Staff Writer
CNHI
March 11, 2010 — Living a life of fear is what residents who live on U.S. 60 East near the Poppy Mountain Festival entrance experience on a daily basis. Residents say that car accidents occur regularly, causing much property damage. Many property owners are afraid for their lives.
One of those residents is Mary Barker, 83, of 7910 U.S. 60 East.
“I have witnessed many accidents since I lived here for 56 years,” Barker said. “It’s gotten much worse since my husband died seven years ago and there have been more wrecks since then. There have been a couple right in my front yard near my porch. One came in and took out a big tree in my front yard and one took out my next door neighbor’s trailer.”
“She doesn’t have any trees left,” said Rachel Jenkins, a concerned citizen and a resident of 7935 U.S. 60 East.
Barker had to move her mailbox because of the numerous wrecks that have taken place in front of her home.
“People don’t realize how bad this curve is,” Barker said. “I can’t tell you how bad the curve is because I’m not an expert on that, but I can tell you one thing it is bad because people drive too fast and they don’t realize how bad the road is.”
An increase in drivers, drunk drivers, speeding, as well as the severity of the curve are factors that caused many of the accidents that have taken place over the years, Barker said.
“My husband always told me that the road was not designed very well,” Barker said.
“People are afraid on the other curve down the road (the last curve just before the Rowan/Carter County line) and then when they come to this one they think they are free and clear and then they speed up in this curve. Then they come through like a sling shot,”Jenkins said. “There was one that took out my telephone poll on the 30th of November and there was another one since then because I saw tracks in my yard. When they come off the road there are usually skid marks. I come outside and see skid marks constantly even when I don’t catch them in my yard.”
One time Barker came home from attending a senior event and saw that a person had wreck in her front yard.
“A truck had hit a tree and wrapped around it,” Barker said. “That was about two years ago.”
Barker said she is afraid when she goes outside because of the possibility of someone wrecking on her property.
“I am afraid when I have to mow,” Barker said. “I can’t hear anything with the mower running.”
She said she hoped the state highway department would do something about the problem to help her and her neighbors feel safe.
“I would nice if they straighten up the curve,” Barker said. “I’d encourage them to fix the road to save lives of course.”
The only way to avoid the danger of having a vehicle wreck into her home or strike her while being outside is to move, Barker said.
“I would hate to make a move until I make the big one,” Barker said, as she pointed toward heaven.
On Feb. 25, a car traveling westbound lost control coming out of the curve near the Poppy Mountain entrance, jumped the curve and crashed into Jenkins’ next door neighbor’s house. Barker was at home at the time of the accident.
“I didn’t witness it but I was here,” Barker said. “I didn’t hear it because this wood stove makes a real loud noise and the television was on. A friend of mine who has a scanner called me to tell me to be careful. That’s why I went out there to look.”
Barker said she only knew of one fatal accident since she’s lived on her property.
Jenkins said she knows an accident has occurred whenever she feels her house shake and hears squalling tires.
“I would usually start packing up and get my coat and whatever I need to and get a phone out to the person,” Jenkins said. “Most of the time I’d find someone crawling out of a wreck and they’re all shook up. Many times they were so shook up they didn’t remember who they were. I’d give them a phone to help them to call someone. Usually they’d have someone to show up and they would get a friend to pull their car out of the ditch and get out of there. Some of the kids were obviously under the influence. They would peel out and were gone because they didn’t want the police involved.”
Jenkins, who has lived at her residents since 1983, said accidents have much more frequent in the past few years.
“I am thinking they have increased lately,” Jenkins said. “It seems like they were every six months at first and now it’s getting to every two months or a month in a half. There’s many numerous small ones where you see tire tracks coming in the yard and going back out. It’s like people are losing control. They come around the long curve and they lose their grip on the road.”
Jenkins has contacted the Kentucky State Police and the Department of Transportation Cabinet Highway District 9 to try to get some kind of action taken to fix her road.
Spokesman for District 9 Allen Blair said getting the road reconstructed is not something that can be done instantly.
“It’s not a rapid process,” Blair said. “It’s a lengthy process. It’s a good process. The general process is that most of our projects start at the local level with residents and local officials identifying a need for the road construction.
“Then the request for road construction is assessed by the transportation cabinet with the assistance of area development districts and their development planners,” he said.
Many criteria must be met before road construction can begin, Blair said.
“ It depends on the needs for the project,” he said. “Our planning division analyzes the data from the specifics of the roadway to the specific needs of the community.”
Safety and environmental issues are also considered, he said.
“Traffic flow and economics determine what is needed for that area and public input,” Blair said. “You mix all that together in the planning process that points us into the direction on what can be done to improve a highway and then that leads us to the funding of the project.”
Blair said in Jenkins’ case, the transportation cabinet is in the very early stage of the process.
“In this case, we are talking about getting the residents and the planners together,” he said. “We have forwarded information to the area development planners. I have given her information on how to contact our area development planners and division. It does not guarantee that work will be done. It has to go through a process to determine if there is a need and if there is a project and what it should be.”
The Department of Transportation welcomes public input, Blair added.
“We continually look for ways to improve roads,” he said. “We take public input seriously. Often public input turns into projects. We really appreciate hearing from the public.”
Blair advises the public to practice safe driving habits.
“We do encourage people to obey all speed limits, don’t drink and drive,” he said. “We encourage people to develop good driving habits. We partner with other agencies to promote that.”
There are 79, 000 miles of roadways and 13,500 bridges constructed across the state. The Transportation Cabinet maintains approximately 27,400 miles of those roadways and 9,000 bridges. The 27,400 miles carry approximately 85 percent of Kentucky’s traffic.
To date, the KSP say there have been five wrecks reported on the stretch of roadway extending from the Poppy Mountain entrance to the Jenkins residence. Many more accidents have taken place but they went unreported.
