Rock Springs Road in Kingsport very Dangerous
With the recent annexations, Kingsport has inherited a very dangerous road. This was brought to my attention by a friend who lives in the Rock Springs area and who had a concern with safety issues due to the increased traffic that will be generated by the new Edinburgh development and the new school.
The Rock Springs Road has many curves, is narrow, and is a scary road to drive on when you meet oncoming traffic. It is especially bad during rainy weather, fog, or at night.
The current Rock Springs Road cannot handle the greatly increased traffic due to the new school and new housing development currently in construction or planned for the future. Parents should be very concerned about this road when there little ones have to travel this road either by car or by bus. I hope there won’t be, but there will be accidents. As school buses travel this road, they do not bend very well as they negotiate around the curves. Also, there will large truck traffic because of the housing construction in the area.
It appears that Kingsport put the cart before the horse concerning this issue. The Rock Springs Road issue should have been addressed first before the school construction and housing developments. In Kingsport’s Transportation Improvement Program for fiscal years 2008-2011 that was prepared by Kingsport Metropolitan Planning Organization, there is no mention of any improvements planned for the Rock Springs Road. But, there are projects slated that are enhancements, bike paths, etc. that are nice to have, but do not address safely issues such as the Rock Springs Road.
In the January 15, 2007 BMA meeting, City Manager John Campbell stated that the Kingsport Police Department are slated to patrol the area. That is good, since for the most part the speed limit is not observed, but if the police have to stop someone on Rock Springs Road, there are very few places that it can be done safety because there is a lack of space to get cars off the road.