Rails going up along Highway 35

Staff Reports

GAYLESVILLE — After months of vocal support for the project by Cherokee County Dist. 4 Commissioner Carlton Teague, the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) has begun erecting safety barriers along a section of Highway 35 that passes over Dirtseller Mountain near Gaylesville.

"That work is underway right now," Teague told The Post Thursday. "The county has been working closely with ALDOT to improve safety along that section of 35. We're really grateful for their help in getting this done."

Teague noted that the road over the mountain is well-traveled by schoolchildren and workers headed to jobs inside and outside the county.

"That's a very dangerous stretch of road," he said. "If we'd had those barriers in place over the years, lives could have been saved. We're glad to get this in place, beginning with the steepest sections of the roadway first."

Teague also pointed out that he and Dist. 3 Commissioner Elbert St. Clair recently split the cost of the flashing light at an intersection on Highway 35 near Gaylesville High School where buses enter the roadway.