Cookeville Public Works completed emergency repairs on South Maple Avenue to reinforce road shoulders after heavy weekend rainfall caused significant washouts.
Public Works Director Mary Beth Elrod said the city closed the roadway to address safety concerns following five inches of rain that fell during two short, high-velocity storms. This came after the road closed two weeks ago for similar repairs.
“We did shut it down again for safety concerns and we put some more stringent measures in those places that get a lot more water and more forceful water,” Elrod said. “We did concrete flume in an area that we had some shoulder stone wash out and then we did some additional asphalt shouldering where we had some wash out.”
Elrod said the project involved installing concrete and asphalt in locations where traditional shoulder stone and rock had previously failed.
“And so that was some safety concerns that we addressed that pretty quickly to get that fixed before we had any issues,” Elrod said.
Elrod said Wednesday’s repairs were necessary to eliminate steep drop-offs that could damage vehicle tires or lead to traffic accidents on the well-traveled route. Elrod said the city prioritizes road repairs based on the severity of safety risks and whether active flooding is damaging nearby structures.
“That was a big safety issue on South Maple, it was a it washed away the stone and it was a caused a drop-off,” Elrod said. “We have a lot of traffic coming in from south of town via 111 and South Maple.”
Elrod said the recent storms have not caused major infrastructure failures, though the high volume of water has required frequent maintenance to clear debris and fix shoulders. Elrod said citizens should expect to see more road closures next week in the Free Hill area as the city continues its cleanup efforts.
Elrod said the city asks residents to report road damage or flooding issues directly to the Public Works department to help crews build their priority list.
“I know people want to stick to their normal route or they want to just come and see what’s happening, but that does slow us down and it does cause a safety concern for both our workers and drivers,” Elrod said. “So we just please ask that everyone go around the work areas when we have those closed and try to avoid those and we’ll get it done and open a lot faster.”
