TDOT's presence felt over county
By Lesley Jenkins
Star Staff
ljenkins@starhq.com
Representatives with the Tennessee Department
of Transportation addressed the Carter County Planning Commission
Tuesday concerning upcoming projects and ongoing construction
work, particularly the refurbishment of the Elk Avenue Bridge.
Nine projects are in the design phase, according
to TDOT representative Paul Beebe. The first project will
be to add turning lanes to the Carden's Bluff Campground on
U.S. Highway 67. Also, a new bridge is planned for State Route
37 and State Route 159 over the Elk River, near the North
Carolina border.
A bridge also will be constructed for River Dam
Road, a project halted previously because of discovered Indian
artifacts. The plans have been adjusted so the new bridge
will not run parallel with the old bridge.
Beebe expects the earliest start date for construction
of the Northern Connector to be 2007. A public hearing was
held in October 2002 and property buyout is expected to begin
in the fall 2005.
"It is subject to construction in fall 2006,
but the earliest I would guess for construction is 2007,"
Beebe told commissioners. "I have been around too long to
know that's not going to happen."
A potentially controversial project involves
State Route 362 in the Gap Creek area. The design calls for
a 5-and-a-half mile stretch of widened two-lane road that
will turn into a three-lane road the last half-mile before
stopping near the current intersection on West G Street.
Commissioners and a few vocal citizens from the
audience questioned why the road would not end at the current
location. Beebe said the road "can't follow the old alignment"
and cited river crossings and horizontal-vertical alignments
as the reason.
A public hearing will be held in the next year-and-a-half
for citizens to voice concerns and suggest possible changes
to the project.
The final three projects will involve Lynn Avenue
in Elizabethton. Phase 1 includes replacing the bridge over
the Watauga River with a five-lane bridge complete with five-foot
sidewalks. Two other phases will continue with construction
from the bridge to Broad Street.
Construction projects are ongoing at State Route
91 on Panhandle Road, which TDOT representative Harold Martin
expects to be finished by March. Another project is State
Route 91 at the intersection of State Route 37, estimated
to cost nearly $7 million. The project, to be finished by
June, will widen that section to five lanes.
A dangerous interchange at the Hampton intersection
of State Route 19E and U.S. Highway 67/321 will see wider
lanes and other expansions by June, making it a "safer interchange,"
according to Martin. Citizens again questioned TDOT's planning
and asked for a signal light. Martin said the County Commission
must submit a request for a signal light, and then TDOT will
study the site to determine if it meets the criteria.
Martin also updated the board about the much-anticpated
completion of the Elk Avenue Bridge which he said experienced
many internal problems during renovation that delayed progress.
It is expected "to be done by the first of June.
It will not interfere with the Covered Bridge Celebration,"
Martin said as a sigh of relief echoed across the table.
In other business, members decided to study fees
and penalties associated with the county's zoning ordinance
at an upcoming Rules and By-Laws meeting. They plan to discuss
capping the fees, issuing a five-year moratorium on raising
them, or placing a fee schedule for five to 10 years. Planning
Director Chris Schuettler said it was a "legitimate concern"
of citizens who don't want fees to sky-rocket in coming years.
