Teresa Morris believes a turn lane or warning signs near the Blue Springs Elementary School construction site off U.S. 72 West and Hardy Road may have saved her father’s life.

On June 3, 64-year-old Gerald Burns rear-ended a fuel truck that had slowed on 72 to turn left into the Hardy Road construction site. He died Tuesday morning at Huntsville Hospital.

As Morris and her family began the process of planning his funeral, she asked that her father’s death not be in vain.

“We feel no fault toward the driver of the gas truck,” she said. “He was working and was just trying to turn off 72 onto Hardy. But there needs to be a turn lane there. They should have built it before they started building the school.”

The 15 miles of 72 from Athens to the Lauderdale County line is a treacherous stretch of highway. Since 1994, more than 30 people have been killed in wrecks there. Adding construction vehicles to the mix makes it even riskier.

At the very least, Morris would like to see warning signs erected to alert motorists about the construction site and trucks turning onto Hardy.

“All of the deaths on 72, and there is no signs up mentioning that there is construction going on or that there is an elementary school going up there? This is not acceptable for my family or anybody else’s family. When Athens Intermediate School was being built, there were warning signs. I just don’t want anyone else to go through this.”

Signs might prevent another driver from making the same mistake. A turn lane could ensure it.

Pearce Construction is building the $14 million school, which is set to open 2010.

Limestone County Schools Superintendent Dr. Barry Carroll said he has requested improvements for the intersection from the Alabama Department of Transportation but has received no response.

Curtis Vinson with the North Alabama Regional Office in Guntersville said the plan to widen parts of 72 and add turn lanes — including a turn lane at the Hardy intersection — is under way. However, construction will not begin for five years, Vinson said.

“We have an ongoing project to upgrade 72,” he said. “We haven’t completed the design yet because we are in the environmental stage (assessing the land, bodies of water and other environmental factors that could effect the design).”

Once the environmental and design phases are complete, ALDOT will have to buy right of way before construction can begin, he said.

As for signs warning motorists of construction in the area, the contractor building the school would have to request them from ALDOT, Vinson said. That is because signs erected along a state highway have to meet uniform sign standards for safety reasons, he said.

Pearce Construction could not be reached for comment on whether it has or will apply for signs.