Staff Writer

In just less than two weeks, police officers have stopped plenty of people racing along Second Avenue.

Since residents in that area brought the problem to the Troy City County, officers with the Troy Police Department had stopped 54 vehicles and written 38 citations as of Friday, said Sgt. Benny Scarbrough, public information officer for the TPD.

During the June 12 council meeting, Nell Hanson, a resident of the roadway that links Brundidge Street and George Wallace Drive, complained to council members about what she calls a "speedway."

As a result of the recent complaints to the council, Troy Police Chief Anthony Everage has had officers working traffic enforcement in that area and will continue to do so.

"We certainly want to do what we can do," Everage said. "We’re addressing the concerns there and in other areas."

Everage said his department can not have an officer dedicated to Second Avenue or any particular area at all times because of limited resources, but believe watching speeders is important.

This wasn’t the first time Hanson had complained and city officials took her concerns seriously.

In October 2000, Hanson approached the council with the same problem. That request resulted in larger speed limit signs being posted.

According to Hanson, the signs have been a plus, but she again begged the council to "do something" and suggested adding "strictly enforced" to the speed limit signs already in place.

After Hanson’s first appearance before the council, City Planner and Administrator Calvin Lott was asked to have a traffic study done on that street. He recently reported the state traffic count on that roadway did not justify a three-way stop.

In order to install stop signs at any of the intersections with Second Avenue, the traffic count would have to be 500 vehicles per hour ­ 200 of which would have to be coming off the side streets.

Hanson argued that traffic count was conducted over a weekend and the Troy State University traffic was not a part of those figures, so Mayor Jimmy Lunsford asked Lott to have another traffic study done during the week after the fall semester at Troy State University begins.

The number of accidents on that roadway also did not justify traffic signals.

Everage said only five accidents have been reported on Second Avenue since April 2000. Four of those occurred at intersections and one was the result of a vehicle backing out from a driveway onto Second Avenue. No injuries were reported in any of those accidents, he said.

Council President John Witherington said taking unwarranted action, such as installing stop signs, "puts us in a position of more liability and we can’t do that."

Lunsford concurred by saying "the worst thing to have is an unwarranted signal."