The City of Cookeville secured state funding to resolve the traffic bottleneck at Interstate Drive and South Jefferson Avenue.
City Manager James Mills said the state expected to provide between $700,000 and $750,000 to replace the TVA tower at the corner with a one pole, cantilever design. Mills said the allocation matches the original cost estimate provided by TVA for the necessary structural changes.
“Well, it’s huge,” Mills said. “I mean, that’s what, a penny in property tax brings in $125,000? So seven cents, six cents of the sales tax or property tax. It’s a lot of money.”
Mills said by replacing an existing TVA tower with a cantilever pole that will hang over the easement will allow the lines to remain in their current position while clearing the ground area needed to widen the road radius. Mills said the construction will stay within the existing easement to avoid encroaching on a restaurant parking lot.
“We’ll be very relieved and I’m sure the people driving trucks turning to go east on Neal (Street) will be happy with that,” Mills said.
Mills said the primary goal of the redesign is to ensure there is enough room for large trucks to navigate the turn safely. Official said the current configuration frequently causes larger vehicles to get stuck in the intersection. Additionally, Mills said the concrete barrier protecting the electricity line is in jeopardy, causing a safety concern.
Mills said while TVA is handling the engineering and design work, the utility is not providing the funding for the relocation.
“The worry they’re going to break that wall down and hit that tower. That’s the big concern. That’s why we wanted TVA to chip in, or at least pay part of it. They wouldn’t. But we’ll see,” Mills said.
Mills said the state funding, secured with the assistance of legislators Paul Bailey and Ryan Williams, should cover the entire cost of the project.
“We hope so, TVA’s evaluating right now to determine if there’ll be additional costs. If there are, we’ll you know, cross that bridge when we get there,” Mills said.
