Alva Review-Courier -

In a special meeting Thursday, the Alva City Council approved a route to be used by wheat trucks during harvest. City Business Manager Stephen Ford said the idea was proposed by a couple of local farmers. Traffic signs along the route will be changed to minimize the need for trucks to stop.

Ford said the routes will keep trucks from the busy downtown area and limit the damage from the heavy trucks to a minimum number of streets. With the lighter than normal harvest this year, he said this is a good time to test out the route. The resolution makes the seasonal route effective from May 25 to July 15.

Trucks coming into Alva from the west on Oklahoma Blvd. (US-64) are asked to turn north on Skyline Drive then east on Flynn St. and north on 14th to Santa Fe St. Those arriving from the east are routed north on Lane St. (US-281) to turn west on Flynn St. then north on Flynn St. to Santa Fe. That route will also serve trucks arriving from the north on US-281. Drivers arriving from the south may turn to the east or west on US-64 to choose either of the routes.

Joe Parsons expressed concern that residents along Santa Fe Street may be bothered by the extra traffic, but Ford said that street gets heavy harvest traffic anyway. Parsons was also worried that the lack of stops might encourage drivers to speed on the route. Ford said the police department will have more patrols of that route during harvest. Daniel Winters said his father worked with traffic flow for Oklahoma City for years, and he said people tend to speed when there are more stop signs. After stopping, they accelerate more and go faster.

Taylor Dowling said he was worried that youngsters walking to the Hatfield Park area would face extra danger from the trucks. Ford said extra police coverage should take care of that. He added that crosswalks can be added to that area later after the city does street repairs.

Ford said he intends to provide multiple copies of the harvest truck route map to the Farmers Co-op and Wheeler Brothers so they can hand them out to harvesters. They will also have copies available at the city office. He said the police department will be monitoring the situation.