Some residents in the area of Centertown should prepare for an address change.
The full Warren County Commission met Monday and unanimously agreed to establish names for three county roads due to the completion of the new U.S. Highway 70, designated as Sen. Jerry W. Cooper Highway.
Included in the measure:
• Old Nashville Highway, which begins at the new highway and extends to the Warren/ Cannon County line.
• Airport Road, which is the section of road beginning at the intersection of the new highway and Spring Valley Road and running until it meets Old Nashville Highway.
• Holder Lane, which is the section of road beginning at the intersection of Airport Road and Old Nashville – the section of C Rody Road that now dead ends after the completion of the new highway.
The resolution to name the roads passed 21-0. Absent from the meeting were commissioners David Rhea and Wayne Copeland.
Highway and Bridge Committee members had attempted to prevent the numerous residents on Old Nashville Highway from having to change their addresses due to the new highway. However, Chuck Haston, E-911 director, informed the committee an address change is unavoidable due to his department having to renumber the homes and businesses along the street and that leaving the old road as Nashville Highway will create confusion for emergency personnel.
“This is an issue of safety,” said Haston.
According to Haston, there is a section of the four-lane inside the city limits and it is still called Nashville Highway. It was unaffected by the county’s decision to name the four-lane after Sen. Jerry Cooper.
“Once you hit Robinson Road coming back into town, that’s still Nashville Highway,” he said. “Once you hit Robinson Road leaving town, it turns to Sen. Jerry Cooper Highway.”
Having two streets named Nashville Highway will eventually create confusion, says Haston.
“Our recommendation will be from an emergency services perspective,” said Haston. “What creates confusion for ambulance service, fire department or law enforcement is duplicate road names.”
Haston continued, “Two roads that don’t connect, but have the same name, causes problems. It does. I would ask you to consider naming that Old Nashville Highway or totally rename it. That would give the two separate roads two separate names.”
To prevent a safety issue, committee members recommended the names to the full Warren County Commission.