Round Forest Drive, the roadway connecting Mountain Brook and Irondale, will stay open after months of resident complaints about speeding, trespassing and crime pushed city leaders to study closing it entirely. Mountain Brook officials have decided against a closure, opting instead to pursue a three-way stop, additional speed monitoring and a new camera at the city line.
Mountain Brook Mayor Graham Smith said the findings from a traffic study simply did not back up shutting the road down. “There was just not justification for closing the road,” Smith said, according to ABC 3340. The city had commissioned Skipper Consulting over the summer to examine the road after residents repeatedly asked the council to close it and restore it as a cul-de-sac.
That nearly $9,000 study, first reported by AL.com, examined traffic patterns, pedestrian conditions, speed and crash data, traffic-calming options, and what would happen to emergency and regular vehicle access if the road were closed. The study ultimately found no traffic volume or speed issue on Round Forest Drive, and concluded that turning the street into a dead end or adding a turnaround would be nearly impossible given the area's topography.
Residents Pushed Back Over Safety Concerns
The push to close the road grew out of a city council meeting in July, where residents described repeated trespassing, drug activity and other criminal behavior in the neighborhood. Mountain Brook City Manager Steven Boone said the city had been fielding complaints about traffic, speeding and sidewalk conditions on Round Forest Drive for several months, the same period during which an August double homicide on a street connected to the road added urgency to residents' concerns.
Irondale Mayor James D. Stewart Jr. opposed closing the connector from the outset. “I want people to know that one incident does not justify closing a road,” Stewart said in August, as reported by the same AL.com account. He argued instead for tighter coordination between the Mountain Brook and Irondale police departments rather than severing the connection between the two cities.
Three-Way Stop and Cameras Under Consideration
With closure off the table, Mountain Brook is now weighing a three-way stop at Round Forest Drive and Round Forest Circle. The city plans to notify adjacent residents before deciding whether to move forward, and if those residents don't raise significant objections, the proposal will likely return to the City Council at its next meeting, per the same ABC 3340 report.
Mountain Brook also intends to run another speed study on portions of the hill that residents flagged as problematic, this time using police department speed cameras, and plans to add a camera at the boundary line with Irondale. Mountain Brook Police Chief Thomas Boulware previously said officers had already stepped up activity in the area and urged residents to report suspicious behavior, while the two cities continue partnering to increase joint patrols and look for additional solutions.
A Shared Decision Between Two Cities
Stewart said Irondale welcomed Mountain Brook's decision not to pursue closing the road further, according to ABC 3340's reporting. Smith, for his part, said the two cities are working collaboratively and will continue to let data guide decisions about the roadway going forward.
Round Forest Drive provides an access point between the two municipalities, offering convenient travel for Irondale residents and what officials describe as critical access for first responders. Earlier reporting from ABC 3340 noted that engineers studying the closure option had planned to compare current traffic volumes and speeds against data collected in 2020, and to analyze how shutting the road might have pushed vehicles onto Old Leeds Road, Little River Road, Sharpsburg Drive and Montevallo Road instead.
