ATHENS, Ala. - Horace Haney is adamant Nuclear Plant Road is ill-equipped to serve as an evacuation route.
He said it's not even adequate as a route home. That's why the Nuclear Plant Road resident put a bright yellow sign at U.S. 31 and Nuclear Plant Road that states, "Warning! Dangerous Road."
"I was hoping that maybe the sign would bring some attention to the condition of the road," Haney said. "It's in bad shape. Somebody's going to have a bad wreck. When it was raining so hard like Friday night, you can hardly see anything."
Athens and Limestone County leaders are trying to get a grant to fund a $2.5 million upgrade for the road, which is the only eastward evacuation route from Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. The road is only 19 feet wide with no shoulder, has a sharp curve, a railroad crossing with no gates, faded striping or no striping, and a weight-restricted bridge.
The concern is if there is a disaster at the nuclear plant, or a hazardous spill from a tanker truck or train, the road could not handle an evacuation. District 3 Commissioner Bill Latimer, who represents that district, estimates about 300 people live along Nuclear Plant Road. Workers who live in Madison County also use the road going to and from the plant.
"If the road was clogged with traffic, there's no room for motorists to move over to allow emergency response vehicles through," Latimer said. "And it's not designed to move traffic quickly."
Browns Ferry has a reactor design similar to the reactors in Japan that malfunctioned after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has said Browns Ferry was designed to withstand a 6.0 magnitude quake.
The plant, which operates three reactors, also is the storage site of more than 1,400 metric tons of spent fuel and rods that lie in three pools on a concrete pad.
"Anything could happen," said Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks. "There is an opportunity for something to happen, and this evacuation route needs attention. We need to put all our emphasis on this road."
Latimer agreed.
"I don't think we'll have a tsunami come up the Tennessee River, but we have tornadoes and earthquakes," Latimer said.
The city and county to date have been unsuccessful in getting any federal funding to upgrade the road. Council President Jimmy Gill, who represents the residents of Black's Landing near the plant, said Homeland Security should contribute money because the road is an evacuation route for a nuclear plant.
"It doesn't seem fair for them not to put some money into this," Gill said. "It doesn't seem fair that the city and county should have to be responsible for all the cost."
The city and county are going to make a grant presentation to the Alabama Industrial Access Road and Bridge Corp. in June in an attempt to get a $2 million grant. The City Council has approved contributing up to $250,000 toward the project, and Latimer said he will use district money or borrow from the county's public building, road and bridge fund to add $250,000.
If the city and county do not get the grant, the project will not go forward.
Marks said the $2.5 million price tag includes widening the road to 22 feet, adding shoulders, improving drainage and installing safety gates at the railroad tracks.
Latimer got a portion of the road paved and striped from the entrance of the nuclear plant to Cowford Road for $200,659, but there still are 8.2 miles remaining. The city and county plan to emphasize at the grant meeting that Browns Ferry is undergoing a $160 million cooling-tower project.
The project involves the construction of a new 28-cell cooling tower and the replacement of four of the six existing towers by the Tennessee River. The project's scheduled completion date is 2013.
"If Homeland Security could pitch in, especially if we only get part of the grant, we could make this road safer," Marks said. "If this isn't a Homeland Security issue, there isn't one."