January 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County has been awarded a federal grant through the Tennessee Department of Transportation under the Local Roads Safety Initiative Program to improve conditions on two county roads where there have been severe crashes within the last six years.
The two roads, the Old Blue Springs Road (1.75 miles) from Blue Springs Road to Highway 56 and Holmes Creek Road (5.64 miles) from State Route 83/Allen Ferry Road to Golf Club Drive were identified through the Tennessee Department of Transportation safety needs investigation process and were added to the Highway Safety Improvement Program list.
The total estimated cost of the projects is $320,500 which includes $232,300 for construction expense of asphalt paving, guardrails, new signage, and pavement markings, mobilization etc. with a local match to the county of $4,700 for the paving on Old Blue Springs Road. The preliminary engineering costs is $65,000 and $23,200 for construction engineering and inspection.
“In February 2018, then Road Supervisor Butch Agee, Sheriff Patrick Ray and I met with TDOT officials and people from T-Square Engineering to discuss the Local Roads Safety Initiative Program (LRSI). Out of this discussion we were able to identify some roads that met the criteria under the LRSI program. TDOT contracted with T-Square Engineering to do the preliminary engineering study. Current Road Supervisor Danny Hale, Sheriff Ray and I are very pleased of the safety improvements to be done to these two roads. Also, county tax payer dollars to be spent will be very minimal at only $4,700 for $232,000 worth of safety improvements. This is a win-win for everyone,” said County Mayor Tim Stribling.
The LRSI has a $250,000 cap available to each County with the focus being on items eligible for 100% federal funding. To qualify a route for the LRSI, there must be a minimum of five (5) crashes with at least one (1) crash being a fatal or incapacitating injury crash during a six (6) year period. Additionally, the severe crash rate must equal to or exceed the statewide average severe crash rate.
According to the study, Old Blue Springs Road is a two-lane with widths of nine (9) feet and shoulders of two (2) feet. This road was added to the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) list and qualifies for funding because it experienced fifteen (15) crashes, including one (1) fatal crash from 2010 – 2016. Additionally, the road has a severe crash rate of 0.344 which exceeds the statewide average severe crash rate of 0.222. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) for this segment is 758 vehicles per day.
Holmes Creek Road is a two-lane with widths ranging from eight (8) to ten (10) feet and shoulders of two (2) feet. This road was added to the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) list and qualifies for funding because it experienced seventeen (17) crashes, including two (2)incapacitating injury crashes from 2010 – 2016. Additionally, Holmes Creek Road has a severe crash rate of 0.275 which exceeds the statewide average severe crash rate of 0.222. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) for this segment is 588 vehicles per day.