February 13, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
State Senator Mark Pody wants the Tennessee Department of Transportation to move forward with two major highway improvement projects planned for DeKalb County.
Pody, Vice Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he met last week with the new TDOT Commissioner Clay Bright and told him that these projects on Highway 56 between Smithville and the Warren County line and Highway 70 at Alexandria to Highway 96 in Liberty, have waited long enough.
“I told him that in our county that we have to get this done between McMinnville and Smithville. That has been put off several times. I also told him we have to get this project on Highway 70 extending into Wilson County and that it needs to be done all the way through. I thought those were the two highest priorities we have in our county. I would like to get it (Highway 70) widened all the way to the Wilson County line and eventually all the way up to Interstate 40 but Wilson County has some different priorities right now. They are not against it but it’s not their highest priority right now but I think it will be as we go through the process,” said Pody.
State funding is already in place for two phases of the proposed Highway 56 improvement project and at last report would be in TDOT’s March bid letting barring any further delays.
TDOT proposes to let bids for two of the phases from south of the Warren County line to near Magness Road (3.3 miles) and from south of State Route 288 near Magness Road to East Bryant Street in Smithville (5 miles). The third segment from near State Route 287 in Warren County to near the DeKalb County Line is not yet ready for bid letting.
Meanwhile plans are still in the works for expansion of Highway 70 (State Route 26) from Highway 53 in Alexandria to Highway 96 in Liberty but while right of way acquisition was long ago acquired for the project, the state does not have any immediate plans for construction. The $15.2 million project is included among those identified by TDOT to be addressed as part of the IMPROVE ACT adopted by the state legislature.