Cookeville residents who encounter deteriorating sidewalks can help move safety concerns onto the city’s radar, as Public Works is prioritizing a growing list of repairs.
Public Works Director Mary Beth Elrod said the city evaluates concerns based largely on safety. The city is currently repairing approximately 1,000 feet of deteriorating sidewalks in the Collegeside and Tennessee Tech area as part of its ongoing effort to address aging infrastructure.
“What we find when we replace those, that they don’t meet ADA compliance, that’s where they may be too steep, they may not have proper ramps for crossings, they may not have proper signalization or signs for crossings,” Elrod said.
Elrod said the current concrete crew moved to the university area after completing a project on Church Street and Walnut Avenue. Elrod said the city is working to replace sections of sidewalk that have been sinking or deteriorating since their original construction in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Elrod said complaints do not simply result in sidewalks being repaired in the order they are received. Instead, the city looks at the severity of the problem and places the greatest safety concerns higher on its repair list.
“So we always rank the ones that are the biggest safety concern,” Elrod said. “So if it’s a large trip hazard, as soon as a complaint comes in that there has been an accident or a trip hazard, we do go and cone off the sidewalk for safety purposes.”
The city has budgeted $150,000 this year for sidewalk improvements and construction across Cookeville. Elrod said that represents a significant increase from previous years, when the city typically budgeted about $50,000 for the work.
Even with the additional money, Elrod said there is a continual demand for sidewalk work. The city utilizes a four-man concrete crew to handle repairs in-house, though two additional positions are currently waiting to be filled. Elrod said performing the work with city employees provides the most value for the city’s budget, even though it can take longer than contracting projects out.
“We have a never-ending list of sidewalk, so our concrete crew is never idle,” Elrod said. “They’re always working when there is good weather for concrete.”
Elrod said the city’s approach also extends beyond repairing existing sidewalks. Cookeville requires private developers to install or upgrade sidewalks along their road frontage as a condition of development, allowing portions of the pedestrian network to be constructed without the city assuming the entire cost.
“So if we can get multiple businesses on one street to develop and put in their own sidewalk, then all the city has to do is come in and fill in the blanks and fill in the missing pieces and then we can have a complete street with sidewalks,” Elrod said. “So it’s sometimes slow-going in the outer limits of the city because you’ll see sidewalks that have been built years ago that’s just been sitting there just because no other development has come in that section of town.”
For existing sidewalks, Elrod said residents can play an important role in identifying trouble spots. Public Works employees cannot continually inspect every section of sidewalk throughout Cookeville, making reports from people who regularly use them another way the city learns about potential problems.
“We don’t see them every day, we’re not out there walking every mile of sidewalk we have every single day,” Elrod said. “So we definitely ask that they send them in through our online complaint portal on the city webpage.”
Once a concern is reported, the city can assess the location and determine where it belongs among other needed repairs, with immediate safety hazards receiving priority. The College Side and Tennessee Tech work is one portion of that broader effort as Cookeville works through its ongoing sidewalk repair list.
