The Alabama Department of Transportation has started studying options for improving a notoriously dangerous mountain road, otherwise known as ‘Joe’s Truck Stop’.

The most recent wreck in the area happened on Monday, April 7th at the sharp turn on Highway 35 known as ‘Joe’s Truck Stop in Fort Payne, Alabama. However, the issue with trucks crashing in the area has been around since the 1950. The semi truck crashes are what prompted Joe, a property owner along the sharp curve, to install the barrier wall now known as ‘Joe’s Truck Stop,’ to protect his property.

This week, Mayor Brian Baine says that city leaders are looking for a more permanent solution than the haphazard project constructed by a concerned citizen that has managed to hold up over the years. 

“It has been a topic of conversation for many many years,” Baine said to WAFF 48. “If they’re going too fast, there is not any way for them to make that turn at the bottom of the mountain, that 90 degree turn.”

“They’ve been log trucks, chicken trucks, they’ve been a truck load of bulls,” said Robert Faulkner, son of ‘Joe,’ the man who constructed the wall.

So far, the only solution ALDOT has approved is the installation of a truck arrestor bed along the now-damaged wall. 

“If they’re halfway driving decent, yes it will work,” Faulkner said.

ALDOT is now in the midst of a $1 million feasibility study to determine if an overpass is a realistic way to route trucks away from the dangerous turn. Results of the study will likely take a year and a half or more. 

“I just want residents to know that we are looking at it, we know it’s a problem, and we know that it’s not an easy fix. It’s not going to be a quick fix either,” said Baine.