City ready to launch major road projects on The Murfreesboro Post

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City ready to launch major road projects

By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Content Editor

Posted: Sunday, February 28, 2010 7:13 am

The recent wintry weather has created a gauntlet where local roads are concerned.

Everywhere one turns, it seems like a new pothole has popped up overnight.

Murfreesboro Traffic Engineer Ram Balachandran said the city’s street department is actively working to patch those holes as quickly as they pop up.

“Most were patched in the first place,” Balachandran said, adding the patches wash out when changes in temperature make the pavement expand and contract.

To make matters worse, the local asphalt plant is closed until late March and the street department is using cold-mix asphalt, which doesn’t bind as well to the road surface and washes out more easily.

“We have to wait until the asphalt plant opens up in a month” to properly fix the potholes, Balachandran said.

Aside from fixing existing roads, the city and state are working to make travel easier into and around town.

• The city of Murfreesboro has begun work to realign Manson Pike and Fortress Drive to make it easier for drivers to enter Medical Center Parkway/Mason Pike.

“A significant increase in traffic growth in this area and the intersection’s proximity to the interchange at Medical Center Parkway/I-24 necessitated the combining of these routes into one intersection,” Murfreesboro City Engineer Chris Griffith said in a previous interview.

The changes will result in a realigned Gresham Lane intersecting Manson Pike farther west of the I-24/Medical Center Parkway interchange and a traffic light.

The new and improved Fortress Drive will include 6 feet of green space, curbs, gutters and a sidewalk.

At a cost of $6.4 million, the project is scheduled for completion in September 2011.

• But before those changes are finished, the city plans make some changes to Fortress Drive from Manson Pike to Blaze Drive.

Fortress will be improved to a five-lane road with curbs, gutters, sidewalks and even a bike lane from the new Manson Pike intersection to near Blackman Elementary School.

The project should take around one year and be completed in the spring of 2011. It is estimated to cost $3 million.

• Murfreesboro’s next loop road, Veterans Parkway, is well underway.

The road will eventually reach from South Church Street to Franklin Road, hopefully taking pressure off some heavily traveled roadways.

Currently crews have finished cutting the new road from Salem Pike to Overall Creek with the road bed set for paving when the asphalt plant reopens in March. This leg of the road cost the city $7.3 million.

For another $4.7 million, the city also plans to open bids on the section from Overall Creek to Franklin Road next month.

This section will also be five-lanes with curbs, gutters and sidewalks and is slated for completion in about 18 months, Balachandran said.

Then the city will tackle the road from Windrow Road to Franklin Road.

• North Thompson Lane is getting a facelift over the summer with the help from stimulus funds.

Murfreesboro will resurface 2.1 miles of the road from Northwest Broad Street to Old Fort Parkway. The project will also add 4-foot bike lanes to each side of the road and connect existing sidewalks with new ones.

“Because the funds are coming through TDOT, all work will be done from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.,” Balachandran said. “All construction work will be done at night.”

The project will take place from May to July and cost the city $39,210 to be reimbursed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

• The city is ready to finish up improvements to Spring Street.

The city spent $800,000 to upgrade the downtown road from ditches to curbs, gutters and sidewalks.

Crews are set to finish paving the street when the asphalt plant reopens in March.

• After pressure from the community, Murfreesboro will rebuild Maney Avenue between Broad and College streets.

Storm water drainage issues have plagued the road with water flooding area businesses and homes, but that issue will be fixed after renovations are complete.

The city also decided to beautify the road at the same time.

It will add on-street parking and sidewalks and make a nice path between two of the city’s biggest tourism draws – The Discovery Center at Murfree Spring and Oaklands Historic House Museum.

For $4 million, the project will be bid in March and work should begin in April.

• Last month work began to install a storm drain along Leaf Avenue and Hazelwood Drive.

The project should take a few months to complete as the roads must be dug up and repaved. The problem will be when the construction cuts into East Clark Boulevard.

“We’re going to be smart about it this time,” Balachandran said.

Crews will try to interrupt traffic the least possible by working at night.

The project is estimated at $950,000.

• The Tennessee Department of Transportation has several projects in the works in Rutherford County and one slated to begin once the weather finally warms up.

Near Eagleville, TDOT is widening State Route 99 from US 41A to Concord Road. The project began in February 2008 and should be completed in September of this year at a cost of $10.4 million.

Construction of a noise wall on Interstate 24 East from near State Route 96 (Franklin Road) to the Stones River began in June 2009 and should be completed this June.

Brown Builders is conducting the project at a cost of $671,989.

In Smyrna, TDOT is constructing a bridge over a branch of Stewarts Creek on Almaville Pike. Construction began December 2009 and is estimated for completion in November for $469,125.

Two other bridges on Almaville Pike are being built over Maxwell Creek and Rocky Fork Creek. The bridge construction began in July 2009 and should be finished in May. The two bridge come in at a combined total of $1.5 million.

In La Vergne, TDOT is in the process of widening Waldron Road from north of Industrial Dr. to Murfreesboro Road.

The two-year project should be completed in December 2011 for $10.8 million.

• Over the summer TDOT will resurface Almaville Road from I-24 to West Jefferson Pike.

The project was awarded Feb. 5 for $1.5 million to Lojac Enterprises. The project hasn’t started yet but it will begin when the asphalt plant reopens in late March or early April.

Contract is not yet executed, so I don't have an exact start date but it will be in the coming weeks.

• Because of the Great Recession the city has put several projects on hold for at least a year, Balachandran said.

Joe B. Jackson from Elam Road to South Church Street has been delayed, as has Veterans Parkway from Kimbro Road to South Church.

When completed the two road will combine to give motorists a clear path from Manchester Highway to the southeast to South Church Street to the south to Franklin Road to the west.

Improvements to Wilkinson Pike have also been placed on the backburner until the economy and city and state revenues rebound.

Related Articles

Traffic Update: Cushing Avenue at Oakland Middle School

Traffic Update: City road projects

Traffic Update: Paving continues in downtown

Traffic Update: Manson-Fortress realignment continues

Traffic Update: City continues annual paving projects

Traffic Update: Leaf Avenue work to continue

Traffic Update: New Salem project completed

Traffic Update: New Salem project continues

Traffic Update: Lane closures on Cason Lane

Traffic Update: TDOT starts work on New Salem

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Member Opinions:

By: SocEtTuem on 2/28/10
It's like pot hole heaven out there and no attempt is being made to make even temporary repairs. One has to wonder how many times the process has to repeat itself before planners finally wake and and say, well duh! Maybe we should have a plan to move on this more rapidly, it happens every year.

By: Sputnik on 2/28/10
If the Transportation Department is listening...make two turn lanes from Broad turning left onto Old Fort, even if the right lane is a straight or turn left combined lane. From Old Fort going onto Broad and from Memorial going onto Broad there are two turn lanes, but left onto Old Fort take a minimum of two lights, sometimes three lights to make a left turn even when it is not rush hour. Where at the heads of our leaders stuck? There is no sand around here.

By: ItsGood on 2/28/10
the reason like it is federal transportation department law, not city or state - i asked about this before

By: BELGIAN613 on 3/1/10
The city also needs to look at widening Manchester Highway from Epps Mill to Middle Tenn Blvd. to four lanes before completing the Joe B. Jackson loop. It makes no sense dumping 5 lanes of traffic into a 2 lane road that is already overwhelmed at work time and achool time. Plus the new middle school is going to make that situation even worse.

By: momx5 on 3/1/10
Belgian613 is right and we need a traffic light there and at Joe B Jackson/Manchester hwy.

By: ItsGood on 3/1/10
Belgian, is that county or city from Epps Mill?
Also, Manchester Hwy is a Federal Road, doubt will happen unless stimulus money used. Call B.O. for help.

By: RonB on 3/2/10
Epps Mill Road is in the county. I haven't noticed a problem driving into town from Epps Mill Road (I live close to it). The cars have to go slow thru school zones, and maybe back up slightly, but that's not the roads fault. It would be the same with a four lane road.

By: tdoggie1 on 3/2/10
Also; the city spent loads of money and a lot of time to widen Sanbyn Drive, now Middle Tennesee Blvd., only to take away the double turn lane at the intersection of Mid. TN Blvd. and Church Street.....turning South off Mid. TN Blvd. onto Church Street. It makes no sense at all to go through all this trouble, and inconvenience that it caused to residents, to widen this road only to bottle neck it up at this above stated intersection. The city should reopen the second turn lane and make it a straight through lane as well as a turn left lane....like it was before. This would alleviate the traffic jam there at peak traffic hours that now backs up all the way across the railroad tracks on Middle Tennessee Blvd.

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