Highway 127, which winds its way up the front of Signal Mountain, is now traversing the stages of a study to determine possible roadway improvements and associated costs.
"The roadway is narrow and curvy and there are areas that are prone to settlement and/or rock fall," said Tennessee Department of Transportation communications officer Jennifer Flynn. "It is the main road up Signal Mountain, and there are no good alternate routes should the road ever be closed for any reason."
Recent washouts and rock slides have previously affected the road, limiting travel and leaving residents concerned about safety.
"Really, our priority is that it's safe," said Town Manager Honna Rogers. "A lot of people drive across [the mountain] to go to work in Chattanooga. We're [town residents] just a percentage of the people who use [the road]."
Councilman Dick Gee agreed that the safety issue must be a major focus for the town.
"I think the responsibility on our part is to anticipate it rather than being reactive," he said. "I think we need to take this step."
The study, which TDOT is paying for, is scheduled to begin soon and should take four to six months to complete, according to Flynn. Because planners are still determining its scope, the associated costs are not yet known.
Flynn said the report will consider the specific locations along the existing route which experience slides, rock falls and similar problems, and determine possible solutions, costs and impacts. The report will also provide a high-level cost estimate for widening the existing roadway as well as creating a roadway on a new alignment.
Once recommendations and estimates are in hand, further funding sources for the work will be determined, but Flynn said money will likely come from federal funds or a yet-to-be-determined combination of federal and state funds.
"TDOT said there's a risk that without having funding for the project, that the study could just go on a shelf and sit for 100 years," Mayor Bill Lusk cautioned. "To me, they'd have a more difficult time ignoring a study that found significant safety issues."
Before any major construction can move forward, the project will have to be included in the area's Long Range Transportation Plan. Smaller maintenance-type projects or preventative measures could likely move forward as soon as funding is available, without going through the process to be listed on the LRTP and the resultant checks-and-balances system of technicalities, according to transportation planner Melissa Taylor.
"Even if there is something that needs to be added to the long-range plan, the long-range plan has to be fiscally constrained," said Taylor, who heads up the Metropolitan Planning Organization responsible for handling the LRTP. "It's already constrained, so it would be a matter of identifying the funding sources expected to pay for the project."