WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Wilson County parents are describing the drop off and dismissal line outside of a Mt. Juliet elementary school as “border line chaos.”
After several cars have been side swiped, parents will meet with city and county officials to address their safety concerns Tuesday evening.
“Cars speed past you in the morning when you are sitting on the side of the road, with multiple people behind you and multiple people in front of you,” Jenna Brent said.
Brent is a parent of a student who attends West Elementary school. She said drivers are forced to sit in the bicycle lane and make the two lane road on Highway 70 into four.
“I remind my daughter every day to sit on the right side of the car so if something does happen that she is not injured, and hopefully I’ll take the brunt of it,” Brent said.
It’s the reality for Brent after both of her neighbors have been side-swiped while waiting in the car line.
“As we were stopped waiting to be motioned forward, a car came to the left and slammed into the side of our car,” Abby Flatt said.
On Tuesday evening, Wilson County parents plan to share these stories with city, county and Tennessee Department of Transportation officials as expanding Highway 70 is listed on future TDOT projects.
“We would like to establish a real timeline for when we can see that portion of 70 widened. We would like to get a traffic study done to see what can we do to improve what we have to work with,” Flatt said.
Flatt said another suggestion is moving the school zone farther back.
“They are doing the best they can with the infrastructure they have, which is basically no infrastructure. Basically, you got a really small two-lane built when there were a third of the amount of people living around here,” Crystal Bray said.
Parents pointed out the congestion stems from the growth Wilson County continues to see. Wilson County schools told News 2 West Elementary is at over capacity with 880 students.
To help with the over crowding, portable classrooms are being brought in this week.
Wilson County parents are meeting with officials at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Cooks United Methodist Church.
