Soddy-Daisy considers closing popular shortcut to high school
The city of Soddy-Daisy is considering closing the road connecting Soddy-Daisy High School to Hyatte Road.
Originally intended as a construction entrance, it was meant to be closed as soon as the school was completed in 1983, City Commissioner Geno Shipley said.
At the board’s Aug. 17 meeting, resident Dale Lockhart requested commissioners do something to curb speeding in front of his mother’s home, located at the intersection of Hyatte and Hixson streets. Lockhart said speeders lose control going around the curve and often end up in her yard.
About 10 years ago, Shipley estimated, the city put up a guardrail to replace the wall in front of Lockhart’s mother’s home after a vehicle knocked it down. The guardrail has been knocked over numerous times since, Shipley said.
Lockhart asked if the city could install rumble strips or signs to encourage cars to slow down, adding that the problem gets worse during football season since the road is used as a shortcut to the high school. When City Attorney Sam Elliott responded that the city’s insurance company “doesn’t like speed humps,” Lockhart suggested having an officer speak to students at the high school about using the Sequoyah Road entrance rather than the Hyatte Road outlet.
“We make an announcement there every year,” police Chief Phil Hamrick responded. “[Hyatte] is a dangerous road, and there’s not a good solution other than to close the thing,” he added, referring to the connector road on the high school’s property.
Shipley said the board has discussed closing the road over the years, but decided against it because of the increased traffic it would create in the already-congested area of Sequoyah Road where the high school entrance is located.
However, road conditions have since changed, which could make the closure less disruptive. The high school previously shared that entrance with Daisy Elementary, but a separate entrance leading from Sequoyah to the elementary school was built last year.
“Now that Daisy Elementary has its own entrance, we could consider closing that [road],” Shipley said. “It turns a lot of cars out on a dangerous road.”
When it rains, Shipley said, portions of Hyatte Road become like solid sheets of ice. He said the city has tried roughening the road’s surface in the curve near Lockhart’s mother’s home, but there are still a significant number of accidents there. In the past three years, there have been 53 accidents on that stretch of road, he said.
“They’re sometimes serious accidents, and a lot of it’s young people coming out of the school,” said Shipley, adding that he will likely bring up the issue again at an upcoming commission meeting.
Elliott said that in order to add any signs or traffic control device on Hyatte Road, the city would first need to get approval from a traffic engineer.
“[Hyatte] is a dangerous road, and there’s not a good solution other than to close the thing.”
— PHIL HAMRICK, SODDY-DAISY POLICE CHIEF