Lighting Up the Streets Part I: Klondike at Mobile Hwy

New street lights like the one pictured above will be going up along Mobile Hwy between now and October.  This one, above, was installed Tuesday of this week.

Ahead of a big state project to repave the road and improve safety along Mobile Hwy from Pine Forest Road to Hwy 90 which will happen in 2022, the county is adding some lights to make this area of District 1 safer.

The intersections of Klondike, 8-Mile Creek, and Millview Roads will all be getting these lights installed over the next few months.

Klondike got their lights yesterday.

On December 6th of 2014, I was attending a function with Governor Scott  and on the way home I was riding right behind a silver sedan on the very dark Mobile Hwy.  Out of NOWHERE--- a white Jeep Cherokee barreled through the stop sign at the intersection of Klondike and Mobile Hwy and T-boned the silver sedan directly in front of me.

I pulled over, some residents came out, we called 911 and within minutes the Beulah volunteer fire department responded. Then the Highway Patrol, then EMS.

The driver of the silver sedan stumbled out of his vehicle and collapsed in pain.  The Jeep was upside down in the ditch and that driver's face was injured very badly.  It was horrific.  It was dark, and it was unsafe.

In May of 2018, just a hundred feet east on Mobile Hwy----another tragedy occurred on this darkened stretch of road.  Two people who stopped to check on an accident victim were killed by a third driver who did not see them and ran them over.

There have been other auto accidents as well.  And then there was the assassination/murder of Mr. Reddy at the Quick Fill.  It's too dark and too unsafe;  dark areas invite problems of all sorts--- so we're doing what we can now to light this area up!  we are moving this forward now--- and hopefully this will enhance the safety of these roads ahead of the FDOT project that will be coming in 2022.