The continuing massive amounts of rain in middle Tennessee has caused a major landslide that is affecting Highway 68 coming off the plateau below Grandview. The road has been closed and repairs are estimated to take some 6 weeks.
The road was closed Tuesday afternoon about 3 PM and according to TDOT is not expected to reopen until May 31, 2018. At last report, at least half of one lane was gone and cracks had formed on either side of the fall. The slide is between Firetower Rd. and Gilliam Rd. All traffic is being diverted to alternate routes.
In 2016, three TDOT employees were killed after being struck by passing motorists leading to the program known as "Work with Us" to bring the problem to the public's attention.
The display at the Crossville TDOT building is designed
to remind all motorists to drive carefully where ever
TDOT workers are present.
The display currently in front of the Crossville TDOT office on Highway 127-S has been used for the past year and a half to bring attention to the need for safety and watching out for TDOT employees when they are working.
The local display ties in with Work Zone Awareness Week recognized in 2018 as April 9-13, a national reminder of driving safely through work zones all across the country.
All drivers in Tennessee are urged to be extra cautious around any kind of road work or official vehicles on the side of the road making repairs or assisting other motorists.
The display includes a list of all
employees killed as far back as1949,
a total of 112.
The display includes 112 orange traffic cones, one for each of the employees
With continued water problems, Dunbar Road in Cumberland County has been closed as TDOT crews work to repair a serious washout. Officials say the road could reopen around 9 PM tonight. Until then a detour is in effect.
Dunbar Road Tuesday Afternoon
Shared by Tiffany Dunaway
TDOT DEtails:
State Route 282 northbound in Cumberland County/Dunbar Road -
Unscheduled Highway Maintenance - Due to wash out of road between DUNBAR CIR. and FCR-1201 (DUNBAR RD.)
Problem reported at 1:52 PM 2/13/2018 and estimated to be cleared by 8:52 PM 2/13/2018 (Central Time Zone).
Northbound traffic is affected with roadway closed.
Southbound traffic is affected with roadway closed.
After returning a similar grant award when the downtown Crossville improvement plan was abandoned several years ago, the Crossville city council approved submitting a grant application that could help pay for $1.5 million in downtown sidewalk improvements during a special called meeting.
Downtown Crossville sidewalks
City council has talked about improving downtown sidewalks for some 15 years, originally as part of the multi-million dollar downtown project, but little has been accomplished towards it during that time. The cost has been a factor in the decision not to proceed. The currently proposed grant will pay for 80 percent of the approved work.
The grant, called the Transportation Alternative Program, is a program of the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). The deadline to apply is October 3 this fall but awards will not be announced until around this time next year. If the city is successful, the bids are expected to be put out in November of 2019 and the construction phase runs from March to November 2020. Previously it was announced that TDOT planned to pave Main Street through Downtown sometime during 2020.
Crossville city manager Greg Wood, left, tells council about
the details of the proposed TDOT TAP grant project.
L-R: Wood, council members J.H. Graham, Danny Wyatt,
Mayor James Mayberry and Scot Shanks.
Because the project is essentially identical to the one that the city previously planned most of the design and right-of-way work is already completed but TDOT will still have to review the project once again. The project starts at the Lantana Road intersection of Main Street and continues to the north side of Neecham Street. The main work will include sidewalks, ADA compliant intersections, and additional improvements. The city will pay from some of the work that the grant won't cover from tax funds.
The total estimated cost of the project is just over $1.5 million and the city's match of 20 percent is around $316,000. In addition, the cost of lighting materials that city crews will install is $295,000.
Evan Sanders of grant consultant Community Development Partners told the council that because the design work is mostly complete that TDOT should look on that favorably and the city has an excellent chance of getting the project funded.
During the discussion before the vote, city manager Greg Wood asked council for permission to pursue a possible partner to install fiber optic cable along Main Street in the conduit the city will be installing for streetlight power and traffic light controls. Wood said that that would protect the lines from ice storms and strong winds.
In addition, the city will be meeting with a company that wants to make a proposal concerning saving enough energy costs to help pay for the new street lighting the city is looking at installing.
The motion to approve the submission of the application and necessary budget amendment was made by councilman J. H. Graham and seconded by Councilman Scot Shanks. An additional $43,000 was added to the grant request to fund pedestrian signals that TDOT requires according to Mr. Sanders.
Councilwoman Pam Harris could not attend the meeting but the remaining four council members voted in favor of the motion and the application will be submitted.
An additional 7 items on the agenda were handled in a single vote. Additional readings of previously approved ordinance readings. One action was to apply for funds to help defray costs of replacing the K-9 police dog Cain.
Crossville city council approved moving forward with applying for a TDOT grant to help with the costs of upgrading downtown Crossville sidewalks.
The Transportation Alternatives Program through the Tennessee Department of Transportation provides 80 percent of the funding with the city providing a 20 percent match to pay for the project. While the project the city had previously planned totaled some $2.6 million the typical funding for this grant is about $1.1 million.
Crossville city council members discuss
sidewalk grant
According to city manager Greg Wood, he and city engineer Tim Begley have been looking at ways to reduce the cost of the plan including taking out the section of the sidewalk in front of the Courthouse that is in good shape. In addition, the city is looking at other possible grants to pay for street lights.
Wood told the council he would like for the council to approve allowing them to continue working on the grant and to bring back the final proposal tot he council for their final approval. The grant application is due on October 3.
Council member Danny Wyatt made a motion to approve the recommendation of Mr. Wood and Mayor James Mayberry gave a second.
Council member Pamala Harris said she still had some concerns about the timeline conflicting with plans to pave Main Street in 2020. Wood said they had talked to consultants and said that a conflict of a month or two would most likely not create a problem.
In a cooperative effort to improve Main Street/Highway 127 through the old downtown portion of Crossville, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the Crossville Street Department are working to improve the road since it was previously announced that the area would not be repaved until 2020.
Portions of Main Street will be closed much of the week as
TDOT and Crossville Street department work on paving.
Starting Monday morning the downtown area has been closed to through traffic between 6 AM and about 4:30 PM while work to improve the road takes place. Crossville Street Superintendent Kevin Music said that if things went well they should be wrapped up by Thursday evening but rain or other issues could delay the completion. The TDOT and city crews are working together on the project.
Rough areas of pavement are being removed and repaved
as part of the project.
The project is cutting out rough areas of pavement and new strips of asphalt are being laid down hoping to reduce the roughness of travelling on the road.
After returning a similar grant several
years ago, the Crossville city council is considering applying for a
grant from TDOT to help pay for downtown sidewalks and possibly other
improvements at the Crossville depot.
City Council members L-R: J.H. Graham, Danny Wyatt,
Mayor James Mayberry, Pamala Harris and Scot Shanks
While no action was taken during the
July, the topic is expected to come up at the August work session and
regular meeting to consider applying for 80/20 grants that could fund
sidewalk improvements and other pedestrian/bicycle improvements for
non-drivers as well as possible work on the Crossville Tennessee
Central Railroad depot.
Full city council discussion on TDOT grants
A public hearing is planned for the
August 8th city council meeting date and the matter on the agenda for
council's consideration of the city applying for the grants that are
due October 3 this year. The total estimated cost of the project
would be $3.2 million dollars with the city's match portion at
$640,000.
Discussion of sidewalks continue to
take up a lot of the Crossville city council's time as they continue
to try and figure out how to economically improve downtown Crossville
sidewalks.
In addition the council heard from a
Crossville resident who does a lot of walking but is blind and shared
the difficulties that he has in trying to walk in the community. Ed
Daszkiewicz lives just off of Cook Road and said as a blind person it
was very difficult to walk to town as there are no sidewalks at all
along Cook Road.
“I don't like to walk in the street,
but I have no option,” Daszkiewicz told the council members during
the April work session. He also told them that another problem with
the sidewalks when he did get to them was some of the sidewalks are
old and weathered. In addition, he said it was difficult to navigate
downtown because there are no pedestrian lights with audio signals.
Downtown Crossville sidewalk
Because some of the corners are not up
to ADA standards Daszkiewicz said he has found himself out in the
traffic walking because he can not tell where he is. He said has has
been trained by the Veterans Administration in techniques of walking
blind but he said it was still very difficult here in Crossville. He
also said that while most people don't think about it, the signs put
out by downtown businesses are obstacles as well as trees and some
sign posts set in the sidewalk as he has to walk toward the out side
of the sidewalk where many of these items are.
Council members listen to Ed Daszkiewicz explain
the difficulties he has getting around on foot in
Crossville as a blind person.
Daszkiewicz said he walks between 4 and
7 miles a day and he had walked to attend the council work session
that afternoon.
Councilman Scot Shanks has
been walking with Mr. Daszkiewicz and said, “Downtown sidewalks can
be very busy and it is very different walking with Ed.”
Daszkiewicz said that the trees and garbage cans and benches at the
courthouse are all hazards that he has to deal with when he walks.
He added that the trees have branches that hang down and cause him
trouble and he has occasionally removed lower limbs that have poked
him in the face.
When asked if the proposed
sidewalk ADA improvements would help him, Daszkiewicz said they would
greatly help because that gives a consistent way for a blind person
to line up to cross the street and he added that those improvements
are also needed for people in wheelchairs.
A short time later in the
meeting, council again discussed downtown sidewalks at the request of
councilman Shanks who said he just didn't feel good about how the
council left the sidewalk matter at the last meeting. Shanks said he
understood that using city employees to do the sidewalk project would
take quite a bit longer then if the work was bid out to a contractor.
Bidding out the work would take about 9 months and the city
employees could be up to 3 years.
Shanks said that while the
city is working downtown there could be no other such projects done
by the city and it would disrupt downtown for a very long time.
Shanks said he would rather see the project bid out.
Council woman Pamala
Harris said the city seem to be “always sitting on stall” when it
comes to the sidewalk project. Council,man Shanks said, “I just
want to see us move forward.”
Councilman Danny Wyatt
suggested the sidewalk project be done using an abutment project that
would require the downtown property owners to help pay for the
sidewalks.
Shanks said that in order
to attract industry and other business, “The perception of
Crossville is downtown. If it looks good then we look good.”
With council at a
stalemate, city manager Greg Wood said that he and city engineer Tim
Begley would be meeting soon with TDOT and they would find out which
of the corners TDOT would bring up to ADA standards and the city will
do the other corners that TDOT doesn't plan to do.
Wyatt said that was good
and asked, “Why should city taxpayers pay to fix corners that TDOT
will fix?” Shanks added that he agreed with that.
The matter is on the
city's Tuesday regular meeting agenda for discussion and possible
action.
Downtown Crossville sidewalks and street light supports
These photos are from July 2016
In some places the roadway is as high as the sidewalk
creating potential water flow problems for businesses
Sidewalk discussion by city council
Sidewalk improvements in Downtown Crossville have been under discussion for over 14 years now and the latest plan was to have city crews repair and redo parts of the sidewalk depending on the condition they are in but a discussion on the project lead nowhere but to a work session for more discussion during Crossville city council's April regular meeting.
The sidewalk project has also been holding up the resurfacing project of Main Street through Downtown that remains full of patches following the work to install water lines last year.
After over 25 minutes of discussion including talk about possible new LED streets lights and where the work should start, the discussion was pushed to an upcoming work session after a motion was made and then withdrawn to begin work. The city has gotten the necessary permit to work on the sidewalks from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and also plans to redo the traffic lights at Main Street and Lantana Road at the bottom of Water Tank Hill.
The traffic light project will be done to allow the sidewalks to be fixed around that intersection as the elevations of the current traffic light poles and sidewalks are not compatible now. An environmental study is being completed before the traffic light work moves forward.
New city manager Greg Wood talked to the council about installing LED street lights because of the cost savings of operating the more efficient lights. The current lights are operated by Volunteer Electric at an annual cost of $751 per light. According to Wood, the cost for LED is substantially lower plus the bulbs last 20 to 30 years before needing replaced.
The project would require installation of conduit in the sidewalk for the new street lights and that slowed the discussion again as the council could not decide whether to start with just sidewalks or both projects together.
Councilman J. H. Graham said he thought the city should begin the sidewalk program immediately at Lantana Road and start down one side of Main Street putting in conduit if necessary. Councilwoman Pamala Harris agreed saying, “People were worn out with it.”
Councilman Danny Wyatt asked finance director Fred Houston about funds budgeted for the work by city crews and Houston said some $250,000 was added to the street department's budget and additional equipment as well.
Crossville city engineer Tim Begley, right talks to council
members about sidewalks. L-R behind desk are
Mayor James Mayberry, council memebers Pam Harris
and Scot Shanks and city clerk Sally Oglesby.
Graham's comment became a motion with the second made by Mr Wyatt. Councilman Scot Shanks asked what was the recommendation of engineer Tim Begley and street department supervisor Kevin Music. Begley recommended that the city complete each of the four corners of the intersection at the bottom of Water Tank Hill when the new traffic light goes in or some of the sidewalk would be impassable.
After some additional discussion, Mr. Graham withdrew his motion.
Crossville Street Department supervisor Music said that his sidewalk crew was currently working along Industrial Drive at Centennial Park and since the council had directed them to move forward with phase 2 and they needed to come to a stopping point before they could move to Downtown. Music also said that 2 part time positions he is trying to add would be more helpful if they were full time positions instead. Music explained he is having trouble filling those part-time positions.
Music said that if the sidewalks are done and then the lights later would mean new concrete would have to be taken up. “I would rather see this done right, block by block, even if it takes 2 years,” added Music. Councilman Wyatt asked about the paving of Main Street by TDOT. Music said they could come and pave anytime as far as he was concerned. Graham told the council he was getting a lot of phone calls about the condition of Main Street.
Begley said he was concerned if TDOT went ahead and paved that there would be problems with storm water drainage creating what he called “bird baths” at some of the corners. He added that in order to be ADA complaint, some of the corners will require bump outs that could complicate the project. Because Main Street has been repaved several times, TDOT plans to mill down the road several lawyers before repaving but Begley said if that was done before the sidewalks are complete then they would have to match up with the current levels and again create problems.
Wyatt asked how soon TDOT could start on paving and Begley said he didn't know but thought it would probably be sometime in 2018 before it could be done. As the decision became less and less clear, Mr. Shanks said it sounded like a work session was needed. With a budget work session tentatively scheduled for April 20 the sidewalk topic will be added to the budget meeting when ever it is set.
The National Weather Service has issued
a Winter Weather Advisory for Cumberland County and much of East
Tennessee. The Cumberland County area is expected to get between one
half and one inch of snow accumulation Thursday night with up to 2
inches possible.
The Tennessee Department of
Transportation has already started putting brine down on state
highways in preparation for the possible accumulation expected.
NOAA Weather Forecast for Crossville:
Thursday: Snow likely after noon.
Cloudy, with a high near 39. East northeast wind around 5 mph
becoming west southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is
60%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Thursday Night: Snow likely, mainly
before midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 21. North northwest wind 5
to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of
less than one inch possible.
Friday: A 20 percent chance of snow.
Cloudy, with a high near 26. North wind around 10 mph.
A joint work session for the Crossville
city council and the Crossville regional planning commission is
scheduled for Tuesday November 15 at 5:30 PM in the third floor conference room to receive information
on the recently completed traffic study.
The study was paid for through a Tennessee Department of Transportation traffic planning grant and looks at future traffic growth out 5, 10
and 25 years.
Several items were looked at in the
study including traffic signal coordination, diverting trucks onto
the Miller Bypass, as well as pedestrian and bicycle improvements.
Representatives of the engineer firm
Parsons Brinckerhoff that prepared the study will be on hand to
review the results and present their recommendations to the current
council, council elect and the planning commission.
A potential change in the design of the
downtown Crossville sidewalk project will either remove the
intersection of 127-N and Lantana Road at the bottom of Watertank
Hill or potentially increase the cost of the project by about
$293,000.
Another alternative discussed by
Council members Danny Wyatt and Jesse Kerley would delay the sidewalk
improvement project over 2 to 3 years allowing it to be done by city
employees was discussed but there are several issues with that
change. No decision was made on the project and a work session is
expected to discuss the project in June.
The problem is with the height of the
mounts for the traffic signal at the bottom of water tank hill and an
easy fix has not be allowed by TDOT. According to city engineer Tim
Begley, that leaves the alternatives of either not completing the
sidewalks at that intersection or replacing the traffic signal at
that intersection. The cost of the new signal and the addition of
conduits to tie the traffic signals together from Lantana Road to
First Street and Fourth Street is estimated at $293,000 including
engineering fees.
Begley said that he feels the estimate
is a bit high. He added that with the sidewalk project and the
replacement of street lights, the traffic signal conduit can use the
same trench as the power for the new traffic lights.
Councilman Danny Wyatt asked Begley if
it was possible for the city to redo the sidewalks piecemeal over a
period of 2 to 3 years with city staff doing the work.
Begley said, “We've put the state off
for two years on paving Main Street and I think they are going to
pave it next year regardless. I think they're going to have to.”
Mayor James Mayberry asked if the
project had already been approved by the council and Begley responded
that it had been. Mayberry continued his questions asking if the
project hadn't been under discussion for some 8 years and over $4.5
million in grants returned. Mayberry asked, “Why do you want to
back up now and start talking about patches?”
Wyatt responded, “I'm just asking
questions mayor.”
Councilman Jesse Kerley asked, “Why
was that project never put on a referendum? It's only went through 5
elections.” Kerley then answered his own questions, “I can tell
you why, because it wouldn't pass.”
Street department supervisor Kevin
Music told the council that he would do whatever they wanted but it
would take a longer time based on the other projects his department
is working on.
Councilman Wyatt said he'd like to know
the cost numbers if the sidewalks were done in house with city crews.
Wyatt said he though all the intersections had ADA ramps installed.
Mr. Music repsonded and said not all the intersections had ramps and
when the state comes in they will mill 4 inches of asphalt off and
only put 2 inches back so the current ramps would no longer be even
with the pavement.
Begley pointed out that the ADA was not
just at the corners, but also where the entrances to the Main Street
businesses are.
Wyatt responded saying there were many
businesses and residences in the city that had no sidewalks. “If we
could do this for $300 instead of $3 million. You're the engineer
and I'd like to know if it is possible to do that,” added Mr.
Wyatt.
Mayor Mayberry asked if TDOT would fix
the corners when they paved the road. Mr. Begley said they would fix
what they could but there were several corners they could not bring
up to standards.
Mr. Wyatt asked the city engineer if he
could get some numbers together by the next meeting along with the
time frame. Begley said he thought they could do that in 4 weeks.
Mr. Kerley commented that he felt a work session might be better
suited to discuss such a big project and such a work session is
expected to be arranged sometime in June.
