Paving is set to begin this week on Big Ridge Road between Fairview Road and Hixson Pike, said City Councilman Ken Smith, who has been pushing the rest of the Council to get the road paved.
The road must be closed completely for it to be paved safely, he said.
“I know that’s going to be a big inconvenience for people, so the sooner they know it’s coming, the better,” Smith said.
He said Talley Construction, which will be paving Big Ridge Road, must first complete a project on Rossville Boulevard before beginning construction on Big Ridge Road.
“I would love to think it would be started before the end of [this] week,” said Smith. “I’ve had complaints from a lot of residents. It’s a bad road.”
Since the city lacks the funding to pave all the roads that need it, Smith said he has been reaching out to residents of District 3 to see which roads are most in need of paving. He said he has been prioritizing his paving requests to the city based on a combination of the overall road condition and the traffic flow on that particular road.
“It was basically my understanding that that section of Big Ridge Road was possibly approaching a slope failure,” said Smith in regards to the portion of Big Ridge Road to be paved. “It has been patched and treated many, many times.”
He said this will probably be the last road project to begin until spring.