RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Rutherford County has tried to put a stop to cut-through drivers near La Vergne High School with the installation of new safety gates.

The new safety gates, located on either side of Chaney Road, went into use Monday, Oct. 27. Chaney Road — along with Wolverine Trail — is an on-campus road that's maintained by the school system and is not intended to be a public street. The gates will be closed during the school day from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. to help safeguard the campus when students are there during peak hours.

Rutherford County Schools' Chief Communications Officer, James Evans, said the move is to prevent cut-through traffic from driving across campus during peak hours when students are present on campus. 

“For many years, drivers have used that road to cut-through parts of the edge of Smyrna into La Vergne,” Evans said. “There are some other roads available nearby the campus that do the same thing, which is one reason why we felt it was prudent for us to put up these gates.”

Every day, nearly 2,000 students are on La Vergne High School's campus. Evans said the school discussed closing the gates after-hours. For now, they will be open overnight.

“If drivers want to use that road when the campus is primarily empty, that will be fine,” Evans said. “If it becomes an issue, we may have to discuss that schedule too.”

There are not as many students on campus after hours besides students participating in extracurricular activities. Since the gates have been installed, the district has had very few complaints. Most of the feedback has been positive, with some saying the gates were long overdue because it’s such a highly-traveled campus road and students use it to get into school.

“We want to be good neighbors of course, but we also have to worry about security of our students, so it’s just something that became necessary," Evans added.

Visitors who arrive on campus outside of these designated times will be required to drive to the opposite side of the street to access the gate buzzer. Campus visitors will be required to show their identification and state the purpose of their visit before the gate will be opened.

The school is currently finalizing a plan for parents to access the campus for student pick-up from extracurricular activities. RCS officials said those details will be released to parents soon.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/middle-tn-neighborhood-news/safety-gates-la-vergne-high-school/