Chelsea, Harpersville, Westover and Shelby County have joined forces to do something about the nightmare of uncontrolled access to U.S. Highway 280 from Hugh Daniel Drive to the Shelby-Talladega county line.

The four government entities have signed an access management resolution that would provide service roads, running parallel to U.S. 280, to allow for orderly and controlled access to the highway.

We applaud this united effort to do something about a problem that is already out of hand in the north end of the county, where traffic lights and entrances to the highway are too close together, in what can only be described as a traffic nightmare.

Not only does managed access to 23 miles of U.S. Highway 280 make sense, but it is already a part of many cities&8217; comprehensive plan.

Now what is needed is to have the Alabama Department of Transportation sign off on the agreement as well and to help these municipalities enforce access management.

Without state support, the efforts of these three cities and Shelby County would not be worth the paper the agreement is printed on.

In addition, access management could go hand-in-hand with new subdivision regulations recently approved by the Shelby County Commission to give our county a fighting chance to meet the growth challenges that lie ahead.

Chelsea, Harpersville, Westover and Shelby County are to be commended for this example of unity and getting ahead of a problem before it&8217;s too late.

When it comes to growth and traffic, a pro-active approach is much better than a Band-Aid style of dealing with the issues