CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A car-truck collision at the intersection of Tasso Lane and North Lee Highway that left a teenager dead has led to safety improvements by the city of Cleveland and the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office.
In May, 17-year-old Ashlyn Lamberth, a Bradley Central High School honors graduate, died when her vehicle was struck by a logging truck driven by Cody Judd. Judd did not have a commercial driver’s license, according to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
The Cleveland City Council recently voted 7-0 to approve several safety upgrades at the Tasso Lane intersection, including the solar-powered warning signs and reflective backplates for the traffic signal. The cost is $9,100.
“Right now we don’t have any advance warning signs whatsoever, including the intersection at Tasso [Lane],” David Sheely, of the city’s development and engineering services department, told Cleveland leaders.
The flashing advance warning signs are “pretty typical” for the first intersection drivers encounter when they enter a town, Sheely said. The Tasso Lane intersection is the first Cleveland signal encountered by southbound U.S. Highway 11 traffic.