Supervisors approve petitions for road closures

Published 12:16 pm Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Lauderdale County supervisors on Tuesday approved two petitions for road closures following public hearings. The petitions asked county officials to close portions of Henry Wedgeworth Road and Old Highway 19 South.

Board Attorney Lee Thaggard said the portion of Henry Wedgeworth Road stretches from Seth Cobb Road to Old Highway 45. There are no residences on the road, he said, and the land surrounding it is timber and hunting properties.

Thaggard said he spoke to the landowners, and they support the road closure. The section of road has been a hotspot for illegal dumping, he said, including tires, dead animals and other garbage.

County Solid Waste Enforcement Officer Daniel Mabry said his office has visited Henry Wedgeworth Road on multiple occasions.

“I’m called out there all the time to clean up illegal dump sites,” he said.

Supervisor Josh Todd, who serves as president of the Board of Supervisors, said he supports the county cleaning up the road one more time. After that, it will be up to the landowners to maintain the property and clean up any illegal dumping.

Also listed in the petition for reasons to abandon021826-news-supervisors the road were that it has not been heavily used for at least 10 years, and it is not in the public’s best interest to keep it open, as well as that the county has not maintained the road for at least five years.

In a second public hearing, the Board of Supervisors considered a petition to close a portion of Old Highway 19 South stretching from the turnoff before Alamucha Whynot Road to Silk Stocking Lane. The section runs parallel to Highway 19, Thaggard said, and the owners of the surrounding property are the ones who filed the petition.

Supervisor Kyle Rutledge said the road used to be the way to get to Butler, Alabama, before the highway was built. Remnants of it can be seen in several places, he said, and another section was previously abandoned prior to him joining the board in 2012.

Landowners said the road is sometimes used as parking and collects trash and other debris from the nearby highway. Closing it would not impact public access to the surrounding area.

Following both hearings, supervisors approved resolutions granting both petitions to close the roads.

In other business, the Board of Supervisors voted to set a public hearing to get the public’s input about a property at 10932 Woods Road, which the county has been asked to declare a nuisance property. Thaggard said the property has a significant amount of junk piled outside the home including appliances, furnishings and vehicles.