APD wants to move cars off Moore Road

Andalusia Assistant Police Chief Paul Dean presented a proposed new 2,000-foot traffic lane on the campus of Andalusia Elementary School designed to get early school traffic off Moore Road.

He also recommended added a traffic light at the back entrance that would be used only during school traffic hours.

“Our biggest problem is late in the afternoon when people get there early to pick up their kids. We have cars all the way down the drive and out in Moore Road in the turn lane, which is 200-feet long, and then  out in the regular lane,” he said. “You’ve got somebody who turns down Moore Road not going to the school and they get in the left-hand lane to go around cars. Then there’s a problem.”

Officials began looking at traffic flow after a wreck at the rear entrance of the school in February claimed the life of an 87-year-old Andalusia man.

“When the school was first built, all of the traffic came in the back and out the front,” Dean said. “Since then, we’ve added two more grades, and changed the traffic pattern.

“My No. 1 goal is to keep everybody safe,” Dean said.

The lane he is suggesting be built would basically be “traffic storage” to get people off of Moore Road, he said.

Dean said the city’s public works director, Glynn Ralls, estimated it would cost $40,000 to build the lane.

If traffic signals were added, the APD would turn them on an hour before school started in the morning, and an hour before dismissal.

In other business, the board:

• Hired Greg Ennis as a temporary government teacher at Andalusia High School, replacing Harrison Mims, who resigned last month.

• Agreed to consult an engineer about draining issues in the football stadium and softball field.