After 8 years, Crossville's Safe Routes to Schools sidewalk grant finally nearing completion.

Discussions of sidewalks along Fourth Street and Myrtle Avenue first started some 8 years ago but after a long and winding road, those sidewalks are partly completed and the community will get the benefit.

The first discussion by the Crossville city council of the safe routes to schools grant was in March of 2009 when the application for the grant was approved by action of the council.

It has taken the intervening 8 years and numerous council discussions and grant extensions by the Tennessee Department of Transportation to get the program to where it is today. Sidewalks along Fourth St. past Cumberland County High School have been completed and work is currently being done on sidewalks along Myrtle Avenue. Myrtle Avenue was the most difficult part of the project because it became necessary for the city to purchase additional right of way and pay to have utilities moved before the final design could be approved by TDOT. Several fits and starts put the funding at risk and TDOT gave two additional extensions on the program after giving one they called the absolute final extension.

Sidewalks along Fourth St. have

been completed. This is near the intersection

with Myrtle Ave.

Sidewalks along Myrtle Ave.

are under construction now.

On Friday May 19 kids at Martin Elementary School participated in bicycle safety training provided as part of the grant. The kids learned about helmets, how to ride safely and proper bicycle sizes too.  

Martin Elementary 3rd and 4th grade students

learn bicycle safety.

The state TDOT website describes the SRTS program as follows. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a federally-funded program focusing on the benefits of ​children walking and biking to school. Its programs aim to improve safety for children and the community and provide opportunities to increase physical activity. A model program integrates health, fitness, traffic relief, environmental awareness, and safety under one program. Bringing together a diverse group of people to identify issues and find ways to improve walking and biking conditions is the core of a successful SRTS program.

Downtown Crossville sidewalks continue to stymie council. city waiting for answers from TDOT.

The Crossville city council continues to struggle to make any progress on moving the downtown sidewalk project forward and again put off any new decision on the project waiting for details from a meeting with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).

It was also revealed at the council meeting that TDOT's timeline to repave Main Street through Downtown after being put off by the city previously could be even further delayed by around 18 months as it would not be included in the state's next fiscal years budget.

Council discusses downtown sidewalks 

In addition, the development of downtown is a consistent recommendation of the last several economic development reports including the latest report on targeted industry and workforce development prepared by Younger and Associates for the Chamber of Commerce. All of these reports indicate that the downtown is an important aspect of economic development and attracting industry to the community.

Downtown property owner Shirley Hughes

At the start of the meeting downtown property owner Shirley Hughes addressed the council on the sidewalks and expressed her unhappiness over the suggestion that property owners pay for the downtown sidewalks.  Hughes added, "I hope you all work together as I think it is important for a town to be attractive."  Hughes also told the council that her former Merle Norman store downtown would become a dinner restaurant.  

Shirley Hughes address council

Hughes reminded the council Crossville used to be known as "The top town for miles around" and she wondered what had happened to that.  

At Tuesday's regular council meeting, the item was brought back to the agenda by Councilman Scot Shanks who moved to rescind previous action by council on the sidewalks to do the work in-house and to authorize the city manager to take bids on the sidewalk improvement work including street lights as redesigned. Shanks motion was supported by Mayor James Mayberry.

City council sidewalk discussion

Shanks explained that the project would be finished faster by being bid out to a contractor rather then having city employees do the work. A contractor would take about 9 months to complete the work while using city employees is estimated to take up to three years according to Shanks. He added that this would also free up city employees to work on the other projects around the city adding, “If city employees do the downtown sidewalks I don't feel like any other sidewalks will be touched in anyway other then Main Street for that entire time.” “We need our sidewalks to ADA standards,” added Shanks, “which desperately needs to be done.”

“I don't think we realize how big perception is as far as potential industry, retirees, visitors, whatever, when people are driving through our town and we have a really attractive, vibrant downtown,” concluded Shanks, “something attracting more and more people to our downtown. I think if we have that and the perception is that all of our town is like that. And I think that it is just such a key that we take care of our downtown corridor.”

News report sponsored by Park Place Motors

Council went into a lengthy discussion of some of the previous actions and previous project estimates and came to questions about how TDOT would work on the corners that it appeared TDOT would fix. City manager Greg Wood and Tim Begley said that they had a meeting scheduled for Friday with representative from TDOT and they would find out more about what TDOT planned and their time line for fixing what they would work on.

Council woman Pamala Harris expressed concern that if TDOT would not be able to pave for some 18 months that they would not fix the sidewalks until about the same time.

Councilman Danny Wyatt questioned the estimated costs of the work compared to previous plans and engineer Begley advised the council that there was much less in the current plan then in the original plan that was part of the full downtown redevelopment. Engineer Begley described the original design as “shiny” but added “what we have now is not.” He added that there were three traffic lights removed from the project, no benches or other items that were in the original project estimated at $9 million.

As the discussion wound down councilman Shanks asked to defer his motion until the city got additional information from TDOT.

City manager Greg Wood asked the council to move forward with authorizing him to hire two full time employees for the sidewalk crew as the council had previously discussed. Wood said that the city had tried to hire two part time positions but only got a single application. Councilman J. H. Graham moved to accept Wood's recommendation and was supported by Mr. Wyatt.

Wood said the employees would be used for other sidewalks until a decision is made on the downtown sidewalk project. Council approved the motion with 4 votes in favor and Mayor Mayberry opposed at the current time.  

New sidewalk request for Dunn Ave to be considered by City Council

Property owners on the north side of Dunn Avenue have requested the city to construct a side walk for the three commercial lots between Walmart and Interstate Drive.  

The request letter goes back to 2014 when the proposal was made for the property owners dentist Johnny Shanks, David Rose and Bruce Wyatt to pay half the cost of material for sidewalks, curb and gutter with the city paying the other half and the labor.  The previous requests have been discussed but no action ever taken,  One city manager suggested the property owners pay all the material costs and the project be ranked with other sidewalk projects.  

Request letter from property owners on Dunn Ave. 

The city of Crossville has numerous sidewalk projects in its capital improvement plan that appear to have priority over the Dunn Ave project.  As late as a June 2016 work session, the project was again reviewed and then deferred. 

Dunn Ave. on the right, behind East Tn Dodge--Walmart is in the distance and 

Good Times liquor store is to the left

Photos of Crossville sidewalks and a faded crosswalk taken 7-26-16

Here are several examples of some of the problems facing citizens, visitors and businesses owners on Main Street with long neglected sidewalks downtown.  For more on what plans are to work on these problems, see this article on action by the council last week.

Along North side of Main Street between 4th and 5th Streets

In front of the Triangle Building (currently a private residence)

In front of French's Boots

At the corner in front of French's Boots

Crosswalk that needs repainted.  There are several in this condition.

Downtown Crossville sidewalk project changed again.

The majority of the Crossville city council agreed to downsize work on the downtown sidewalks project one more time moving to a plan that will repair much of the area and replace about 30 to 35 percent.

The outcome might have been different if all the council members had been present. The called meeting was set earlier in the week and councilman Pete Souza had informed the other council members that he was not available for a called meeting during the week. The meeting was held anyway.

The matter was put on the agenda by councilman Danny Wyatt and the council had been waiting for a report on the costs of some alternatives to hiring a contractor to come in and replace all the sidewalks over a time frame of about 6 months.

Said Wyatt, “This has been talked about a long time and I feel like it is time to make a decision and stick with it.” Wyatt said he really didn't care what the decision was and he didn't have much fight left in him, but he didn't see spending millions of dollars when it can be repaired for $450,000.

Wyatt moved that the sidewalks be repaired where needed and hire an engineering firm to tell the city what is needed to bring the sidewalks up to ADA standards. The motion would also add a two man crew to the city staff and implement a 10 year sidewalk plan when Main Street is finished. Wyatt added that the city should turn Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) loose to pave Main Street right away. Councilman Jesse Kerley supported Wyatt's motion.

Council member Pamala Harris spoke saying that she had spent the last week walking Main Street, looking at the sidewalks and talking to people as well. Ms. Harris said she had talked to 19 people and 4 were in favor of the full project to replace all the sidewalks, 4 were non-committal and 11 were in favor of the repair process proposed by Mr. Wyatt.

Mayor James Mayberry said the project had been under consideration for many years and millions had been spent on the project plus $3.5 million in grants and funding that was returned. Mr. Mayberry reminded the council that economic development consultants had said how important a vibrant downtown is to a community. “I think this patching up is totally different then what the plan is,” said Mayberry.

A question on how to proceed with the motion was asked to the city attorney Will Ridley. The last motion on the project was made in May of 2015 to move forward with the full project using contractors and install new light poles with the current metal downtown poles to be used at Centennial Park. The following month a contract was approved with engineers to designe the project for bidding at a cost of some $100,000.

Ridely said, “This motion would be essentially amending that one and so it would need a three fourths vote of the members present so with this council today it would take three votes.”

Had all five council members been present the vote would have required 4 votes to pass.

Mr. Wyatt had some questions for city engineer Tim Begley about the alternative plan to repair the sidewalk corners to ADA compliance and replace sidewalks that need replaced. Mr Begley said that he estimated that some 35 percent of the sidewalks would need to be replaced but he stressed that that was only an estimate. Begley added that the time line for the repair project would be between 6 and 12 months. Because the changes proposed will require TDOT approval and Begley estimated it could be up to a year before the city could start on such a project.

Crossville city engineer Tim Begley

One complication is the intersection of Main Street at Lantana Road because of problems with the placement of the poles holding the street lights. According to Begley, the staff has been waiting for direction from the council on how to deal with the situation. The funds could be pulled from planned work on the West Avenue and Fourth Street intersection work or left out of the plans. It was also mentioned that the city needed to provide a decision to TDOT on the intersection by the end of September. Mr. Wyatt called that intersection one of the worst and it would be difficult to convert to ADA accessible corners.

The repair project as proposed would not include replacement of street light poles and according to Begley's memo, the repair project would only make the corners ADA and it would not make entrances to some of the businesses ADA accessible and he added during the discussion that some of the sidewalks were so slanted left to right that they were not ADA acceptable. In addition, there are trip hazards where the sections are not quite the same height. Begley wrote in his memo that the incomplete work to upgrade to full ADA compliance could cause problems for the city down the road.

Ms. Harris commented that several people had mentioned to her the need to repaint crosswalks and curbs since those had been left alone while waiting for the project to get underway.

Mayor James Mayberry said he was in favor of biting the bullet and doing the sidewalk project as previously agreed to.

Ms. Harris asked of the project was equivalent to about a 4 cent tax increase to pay for the more expensive work? Mr. Mayberry responded, “Actually you've got money in the bank. You could just cut a check and pay for it.” Mayberry said the city had $7.5 million in the rainy day fund and another $4.5 million in other funds adding the city could get pretty good interest rates to borrow the funds.

Clarification of the motion included the hiring of two full time employees at a cost of $90,000 a year, two part time employees at $35,000 a year along with necessary equipment and a truck at a cost of some $80,000 and $40,000 for concrete and rock.

The vote included yes votes from council members Wyatt, Harris and Kerley. Mayor Mayberry voted no and the motion was approved.

Link to sidewalk damage photos.  

City council full discussion on changing downtown sidewalk project. 

Crossville city engineer and public works studying sidewalks and street light poles

City workers study sidewalks and light poles

Crossville employees were spotted Wednesday July 6 walking Main Street studying the sidewalks and light poles that would be part of the project to upgrade both.   City engineer Tim Begley is on the left in this photo.  Begley and the city public works department are studying the possibility and costs estimates of redoing the downtown Crossville sidewalks using city crews that would only work on sidewalks.   

Crossville city council is expected to take up discussion of the project during their meeting July 14 when Begley will be presenting the estimates for the cost of the work using city labor.  The $3 million was removed from the budget at the last minute that would have paid for a contractor to do the sidewalk and light pole replacement work.  The sidewalks are as close to a downtown improvement project as the city will get after backing away from a full project a little over two years ago.  

TDOT is expected to pave Main Street through downtown before the work can be completed if it is done with city crews. 

Calm before the storm--Budget changes decided Thursday night in council work session.

The Crossville city council met in work session last week and worked on trying to finalize the budget leading up to the public hearing and second reading set for June 9.

At the start of the work session, the budget stood at $557,000 in the red and after going through the budget, cutting all donations to non-profit outside agencies to save some $18,405 then adding some projects back into the budget the final count left the budget at around $1.1 million in the hole. The city has a large rainy day fund of some $13 million that would easily cover the estimated budget deficit.

Non-profit donations were cut by ten percent across the board. Councilman Jesse Kerley proposed cutting the donations of all agencies but the Fair Park Senior Center and the TAD Center but other council members felt that was not fair and that all should be cut the same.

Some of the items that had been previously removed but added back by the council include one additional detective for the police department at a cost of around $50,000. Chief Rod Shoap told the council that additional employees will help the department be able to improve and his priority was to have an additional detective first followed by two patrol officers. Council members Danny Wyatt, Pete Souza and Pam Harris indicated support for the addition of one detective to the budget.

Uniforms for the fire department were added back to the budget at $15,000, medical supplies for the first responder program added an additional $2,500 and training costs of were increased by $5,500. Chief Mike Turner said that the department had non had new uniforms in 2 years as it had been removed from the last two budgets. New defibrillators and one of two requested generators for the fire stations were not included in the budget. Medical director Dr. Mark Fox spoke in favor of the medical supplies and defibrillators and chief Turner said without power the doors to the fire station had to be raised by hand slowing their response time when the power was out.

Council left some funding in the budget for hiring one of the retail consultants that the council heard from last month. The amount originally budgeted was reduced based on the information the council learned during the presentations.

Rather than lease poles for the Warner complex, the council discussed and supported outright purchase of metal poles at a total cost of $374,000. A playground to be located at Meadow Park Lake added an additional $25,000 to the budget.

Council discussed the downtown sidewalk project and appeared to be moving away from what some feel is a more costly option to hire a contractor to do the sidewalks. Council members Danny Wyatt and Jesse Kerley are proposing that the work be done piecemeal by city employees. Kevin Music with the street department is proposing adding a concrete crew to do the work and added that there was enough sidewalk and concrete work to keep a crew busy. Council is waiting to get information from city engineer Tim Begley on costs before making a final decision.   

After the meeting broke up the incident between council members Kerley and Souza took place.  During some of the budget discussion, the two council members glared at each other several times during the meeting and Kerley took issue with Mayor James Mayberry's support of the downtown sidewalks claiming his business would benefit from the project.

Downtown Crossville sidewalk project faces possible delays or additional costs.

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.