The long-awaited four lane highway connecting McMinnville and Smithville may still be a long way from completion, but actual construction is expected to be visible before the end of 2018.
Tennessee Transporta-tion Commissioner John Schroer said bids for the first phase, a 3.3-mile segment of a “super two-lane,” are due to be released to contractors in late summer or early fall. Phase two will follow quickly, adding another five miles of expanded roadway, he said.
The first section begins south of the Warren-DeKalb County line and ends near Magness Road in DeKalb County. The second stretch picks up at Magness Road and continues north to East Bryant Street in Smithville.
“We bought a four-lane right of way,” Schroer said, who added environmental studies and design work have all been completed for the entire project. Importantly, the project has been included in the construction budget at the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Among the improvements will be straightening curves and reducing the grades, yielding better alignments and visibility for motorists.
The initial two lanes will have wider, 6-foot shoulders, all in preparation for the eventual completion of another set of parallel lanes, the transportation chief explained.
“Safety, congestion and economic development, in that order, are the criteria” the department uses in determining where and when to spend its construction funds, which derive from state and federal gasoline and diesel taxes, Schroer told WCPI Radio. “If you have all three you’re going to get something down.”
Political considerations, he emphasized, do not intrude on those calculations.
“We’re going to do what’s right for Tennessee. Highways don’t have R’s and D’s on them,” said Schroer. “Our decisions are not political. Not once has the governor asked me to do anything political.”
On the matter of traffic deaths, Schroer said Tennessee averages about three fatalities a day. However, highway design rates far behind distracted driving, impaired driving and drowsy driving in the death toll on the nation’s roadways.
In fact, 94 percent of fatalities nationwide are due to driver error, Schroer said. But he sees hope for the future in automotive technology, including self-driving vehicles. Even before fully autonomous cars hit the highways in big numbers, newer cars will be able to talk to each other, greatly reducing the risk of collisions.
Another traffic issue affecting the commute between Warren County and Murfreesboro, the two-lane passage through downtown Woodbury, remains a question seeking an elusive answer.
