OFF THE HOOK: Year of traffic woes plague Tuscumbia street

Residents who live on North Hook Street in Tuscumbia have been bringing issues before the City Council for an entire year.

While traffic issues have been plaguing the area for longer, it was during the May 5, 2025, meeting that residents of Hook Street attained a spot on the agenda to ask Council members to help solve the issue of speeding in their neighborhood.

Former Police Chief Tony Logan said the city replaced the “no truck” signs on Hook Street, but by the time truckers could see the signage and become aware of the situation, there was nowhere left on the road to turn around.

“Another issue is when people would look up driving directions (through the area), the GPS would send you down Hook Street,” Logan said. “Once the trucks are on their, they are kind of trapped. We have tried to increase enforcement, but with our staffing issues it has been such a challenge.”

The staffing issues Logan spoke of have been brought up to the Council on multiple occasions.

One of the biggest issues is retainment, as many young officers who join Tuscumbia police end up finding more lucrative jobs elsewhere.

TPD has been shorthanded for some time because of the pay disparity.

A BUMPY ROAD

In October 2025, the Tuscumbia City Council saw a major turnover, as all but one position, including that of mayor, was being filled by a new member. Jennifer Bennetch was the only Council member returning.

The last meeting for the former Council — including former Mayor William Foster — took place on Oct. 20 of last year.

That meeting ended up devolving into bedlam due to a number of reasons.

Former Council members and some of those who would be taking their places come the next meeting got into a disagreement over the purchase of a new engine for the Tuscumbia Fire Department.

Despite the issue not being on the agenda, the item ended up being added, and the Council eventually voted to make the purchase.

Another item that added to the cacophony was some residents of Hook Street, who had attended the meeting to once again bring up the issue of speeding in their neighborhood, began yelling at the Council over what they felt like was a lack of progress.

They said too many commercial vehicles were speeding up and down Hook Street causing a safety issue.

That same month, the city installed speed bumps on the road in an effort to slow down traffic.

Logan said the city also added some stop signs to the road, including making the intersection with Moore Street into a three-way stop.

“People, by habit, will slow roll or completely ignore those signs,” he said. “We talked to some of the residents and had them put together a petition. Who would like to see the city put speed humps in. Pretty much everyone at the time agreed.”

SPEED LIMIT

It didn’t take long for more issues to arose even with the speed bumps.

Shortly after their placement, Logan said someone (presumably going too fast down the street) locked up their brakes and hit one of the speed bumps so hard it became dislodged and had to be replaced.

Despite the city’s efforts, residents on Hook Street said speeding remained an issue.

Residents spoke to the Council on the agenda during the Feb. 2 and Feb. 16 meetings earlier this year.

One resident, Billy Baskins, spoke about speeding during both meetings, as well as the signage prohibiting big trucks.

“The speed bumps were doing some good, but they are still coming through there fast,” he said. “It needs some kind of patrolling for more than a day or two. This one specific car — a black Mustang — it will ease over the hump, but then I bet he or she gets up to 75 (mph) before they get to where Sheffield meets Hook Street. Some people go over that speed bump like the ‘Dukes of Hazzard.’”

Logan said the speeding issue down Hook Street began several years ago when the local truck route was changed when the bridge at Spring Creek was being replaced.

He said Hook Street was repaved around 2017-2018, and that made the road more enticing for drivers to travel.

By ordinance, no large trucks other than local deliveries are allowed to travel down that road.

However, another issue Logan mentioned as far as large truck traffic on Hook Street is concerned is some of those vehicles are exempt from the Tuscumbia ordinance banning them.

“Anyone with the local utilities is exempt,” Logan said. “Sheffield Utilities serves everyone but Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals, and it’s natural for them to take the fastest route.”

He said there are also other things like wrecker services who contract with local cities, and by those contracts they have to respond to calls within a certain amount of time, making travel down Hook Street inevitable when it is the fastest route.

A BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Though the speed bumps were originally seen as a deterrent to speeding on Hook Street, their placement ended up causing further issues.

Baskins attempted to speak to the Council during the audience portion of the April 20 meeting, but since his issue did not pertain to any of the agenda items, Mayor T.W. Billings asked him to return to his seat and have the issue put on the next meeting’s agenda.

Baskins did just that, and during the May 4 Council meeting, he told the members not only was the speed bump outside of his house not slowing traffic down at all, the noise from vehicles hitting it were keeping himself, his wife and other residents up at night.

Baskins brought with him a petition signed by 13 residents asking for the speed bump to be removed due to the noise being made by vehicles passing over it.

“I guess y’all are getting tired of hearing about Hook Street,” he said when he went to the podium. “I can’t hear anything but racket at night. (The speed bump) hasn’t slowed down speeding at all. They fly through there. It’s not working on speed, but it’s working at keeping us up at night. We can’t even watch our TV with trailers jumping over (the bump), big trucks banging over it. It’s nothing but racket.”

AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN

Fellow Hook Street resident Mark Ware, who like Baskins has attended a number of Council meetings over the speeding issue, did not agree with his neighbor on the noise created by the speed bump.

He said he lives across from Baskins and has been there for most of his life.

Ware worked with the city to take pictures of a number of commercial trucks traveling down Hook Street that were not legally allowed to be there.

Logan said each time Ware sent him a photo with a visible company on the vehicle, the business would be notified by letter that their vehicle was not allowed down that road.

Any ineligible trucks caught traveling down Hook Street were also given a copy of the city ordinance forbidding them from the road.

Ware said he pushed with Council members, Logan and Foster about the speeding and “finally” got the bumps put in.

“I sleep all right at night,” he said. I’ve been living there my whole life. There is a train right behind Mister Baskins, and it doesn’t bother me at all.”

Ware said he believes the speed bump does slow down about half of the traffic coming down Hook Street. He said a lot of vehicles, especially those coming from Sheffield, still drive too fast and hit the speed bump and “keep going.”

He said another issue with the speeding is out-of-county traffic that is likely unfamiliar with the local ordinance. He called Hook Street a ‘bypass” for a lot of drivers.

“My grandkid is going to be getting out of school in the next few days, and he is going to come stay with me,” Ware said. “My kid grew up playing on Hook Street on the sidewalk. I’m afraid for my grandson to get hit on the sidewalk.

“I’m afraid somebody will run off the road and hit him. I woke up one morning with a car in my front yard. Had to have it towed. I saw a lady come down the road, before the speed bump, who had a blowout and ended up in another yard. The potential is there for somebody to get killed.”

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

Though Baskins and Ware disagreed on whether or not to remove the speed bump, one thing both men agreed on was a request to increase enforcement of local traffic laws by having Tuscumbia police frequent the area more often.

Interim Police Chief Steven Higginbotham said staffing for his department remained an issue, making increased patrolling down one specific street difficult.

Higginbotham said he had a patrol officer spend nine hours on Hook Street during a day near the May 4 meeting, and he said despite 12 tickets being written and one arrest being made, no big trucks were reported.

“Each one stopped was a personal vehicle,” he said. “Maybe the big trucks are coming on a different day.”

In an effort to prove how much traffic is traveling down Hook Street and the amount of noise being caused by the speed bump, Baskins invited any member of the Council to come sit in his house or on his porch.

“You will see trucks passing through there,” Baskins said. “That was one day. We are there every day. Let us rest like y’all do at night. Come spend the night with me, mayor (Billings). I will give you my bed, and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Council members Jennifer Bennetch and Krista Stanley agreed that the speed bump should be removed if it wasn’t working as intended to slow down traffic and was instead creating a noise issue.

Council member Sidney Nall asked Ware if he was in favor of taking down the speed bump?

Ware said not before Hook Street sees increased police presence.