City of Reform Donates Corner to Improve 17/82 Intersection

BY GENA HUFF, Editor

The Alabama Department of Transportation’s (ALDOT) District Administrator, Jonathan Anderson, spoke to the Reform City Council at their regular meeting on Apr. 3. regarding the intersection of State Road 17 and U.S. Highway 82. The intersection needs work to improve the turning radius for commercial trucks. Currently, with the small turning radius, trucks are running up on the sidewalk curb or have trouble getting onto the highway. The city owns the property at the corner where a traffic pole is set up and also where the state would need to work in order to improve the intersection.

Anderson passed out drawings of the proposed work to the council and press.

“What you see drawn is about an 88-foot turn radius right there. What we try to put in the new drawings and designs now is a 100-foot radius for commercial trucks,” said Anderson. “This is drawn to max 17 and 82 the way it is already built. There is nothing we can do about that. But with this being drawn, it is still not going to be the current radius that we would design a new highway under. However, it will help these trucks trying to turn out of 17 going west on 82. And that is going to be the real big thing,” he continued.

“What we are wanting to do is saw-cut this concrete that happens to be the city’s and we want to come in there and put up what is called a type ‘N’ curb, and that’s going to be a curb that has a trapezoidal face on it so if a tire does get on it, it is not a vertical face."