(OBA®) – Orange Beach, AL – A study by a summer intern proves that the median system installed on Perdido Beach Boulevard in 2016 – while a headache and inconvenience at times – accomplished the safety goals the state envisioned for the once-controversial project.

“We do have the numbers now to say, and the contention all along was the reason for this was to reduce serious accidents,” Mayor Tony Kennon said. “Now we have data.”

Kennon spoke about the project at the Aug. 3 regular and council meeting although there was no action on the project. The council heard a presentation from Logan Lonsdale, a UAB political science student, on the differences in accidents on the roadway before, during construction and after the U-turn system began operating.

“I hate not being able to make a direct left turn and I’m sure you hate hearing about how people hate it, too, but it saves lives and that’s the bottom line,” Lonsdale told the council during his presentation. “It does save lives.”

Before construction left-turn related accidents made up 31.2 percent of all accidents compared to less than 5 percent after the median project was complete, Lonsdale said.

“Most of the 5 percent were due to improper use of the median system,” Lonsdale said. “This in itself proves the great success of the median project was just by those numbers. That is huge. These left-turn accidents are the most severe by way of property damage, by way of personal damage in injuries and fatalities. Knocking this number down to below 5 percent is huge for the city and a great accomplishment for the city and ALDOT.”

During the study, Lonsdale also discovered:

• Left-turn accidents reduced to near-zero levels

• Increase in front-to-rear accidents are an unfortunate but acceptable byproduct of the median improvement project.

• Efficacy of this project should not be discounted by the minor inconveniences it causes.

• Implementation of signalized median U-turns and elimination of direct left turns has saved lives.

“You’ve eliminated the possibility of somebody getting critically injured or worse on this road,” Lonsdale said. “This is a very busy section of road. This is a 1.7-mile stretch of road and I identified 313 accidents over a six-year period which takes into account a 1.7-mile stretch of road that is very busy.”

Lonsdale broke his research into three periods starting with the 21 months before construction began or January 2015 until September of 2016. There was a total of 93 accidents with 29 being left-turn accidents and 55 front-to-rear accidents. The others were crashes insignificant to the study or didn’t involve two vehicles.

The second period was the 22 months from October 2016 to August 2018 during construction of the improved median and there was a total of 101 accidents with only 12 left-turn accidents and 75 front-to-rear accidents. Again, the rest of the accidents were insignificant or involved only one vehicle.

In the final 32-month period between September of 2018 and April of 2021 only six of 119 accidents involved left-turn motions and 73 were front to rear.

“What’s great about this is people aren’t getting hauled away, there’s no fatalities,” Lonsdale said. “You’re not towing cars away. These are minor accidents, bumper scratches. People are walking away from these. In my opinion, that’s an acceptable alternative to left-turn accidents.”

The increase in front-to-rear accidents has increased but Lonsdale pointed out that those cause less damage to cars and injuries to drivers and passengers. He found that 11 percent of all front-to-rear accidents occurred on the right turn west from State Route 161 to State Route 182.

“There is a very high rate of accidents right here and they all occurred post median construction,” Lonsdale said. “There’s nothing to point to a problem prior to this as it was less than 5 percent occurring in this location. This has to do with not only do you have to stop hard you also have to take into effect the crosswalk and you have oncoming traffic.”

Kennon said the city will explore right of way in the area with hopes of adding a merge lane onto State Route 182 after the right turn in that location.

“I’ve been right there and almost ran into someone and been run into so I know exactly what’s going on and glad you brought it to our attention,” Kennon said. “With the merge lane I hope we’re able to reduce that.”

Lonsdale is the son of Orange Beach Police Lt. Keven Lonsdale who commands the patrol division and Logan is a graduate of Gulf Shores High School.

“I can’t say enough about the experience I’ve had with Logan because he’s a very independent and self-motivated young man that came out of our community,” City Administrator Ken Grimes said. “When he said he’d like to do an internship here this summer for finishing up at UAB I thought perfect and said what do you want to do? He’s a research kind of guy. We knew we were on the cusp of enough years of data to see if the median improvement is working.”

During the regular session, the council:

• Approved a resolution authorizing the sole source purchase of stormwater pumps to upgrade the Bear Point Lift Station from Jim House & Associates for the Public Works Department in the amount of $194,519.

• Approved the purchase of three vehicles for the police department, a 2021 F-150 Ford crew cab pickup for $28,832 and a 2021 Dodge Charger for $24,589 both for the Investigation division and a 2013 Chevy Tahoe for support services for $16,000.

• Approved of a special events retail liquor license application by Event Concessions for “Whiskey Myers” to be held Sept. 8-9 at The Wharf.

• Passed a resolution amending the employees pay plan/job listing to add the position of Deputy Building Official.

• Passed a resolution authorizing a franchise for Hoyer Rentals to remove and dispose of commercial solid waste and to remove and transport construction and demolition debris.   

• Passed a resolution appointment Michael D. Davis, P.E., and reappointing Jeff Silvers to the Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals.

• Passed a resolution adopting a City of Orange Beach FY 2022 transportation plan.

• Passed a resolution authorizing execution of a task order with Watermark Design Group to provide design, bid, and construction administration services for City Hall roof replacement following the April 10 hailstorm in an amount not to exceed $31,000.

• Passed a resolution declaring garbage cans owned by the City of Orange Beach as surplus and unneeded and authorizing the donation of said property to the City of Centreville.

• Recognized the work of the youth summer work program now it its fourth year. Students worked on Backcountry Trail maintenance, Sportsplex concessions, Expect Excellence summer camp counselors, in Logistics, Public Works Landscape Division and the Wind and Water Learning Center. There were 28 workers ages 14 and 15.

During the work session, the council discussed:

• A resolution to OK a funding request of $237,000 for the Mako Arts, Academics and Athletics Club.

• A resolution authorizing execution of a memorandum of agreement with the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau for the bureau to fund $1.2 million in athletic facility upgrades.

• A resolution adopting the 2021 Baldwin County multi-hazard mitigation plan.

• A resolution authorizing execution of an agreement between the Baldwin County Commission, the City of Orange Beach, and the Planning Commission of the City of Orange Beach concerning the exercise of subdivision regulations within the planning jurisdiction of the municipal planning commission. This is in response to a new state law limiting municipalities planning jurisdictions to corporate city limits.

• A resolution declaring certain personal property owned by the City of Orange Beach as surplus and unneeded and authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to dispose of such property. Included are four vehicles flooded in Hurricane Sally, two other pickup trucks, a John Deere backhoe attachment, a aerator and a Kawaski UTV.

• Set a public hearing date for a change to the Summer Salt planned unit development to add seven lots to phase 2. Summer Salt is under construction behind Doc’s Seafood and Steaks on beach road. The suggested date is Sept. 7.

• Set a public hearing for a planned unit development for a hotel in the Romar Baptist Church building. The suggested gate was Aug. 17.