CLEVELAND, Tenn. - A contract has been awarded by the Tennessee Department of Transportation to widen Dalton Pike.
Motorists are expected to see the physical work beginning soon after years of talks, engineering, public hearings and right-of-way acquisitions.
Jennifer Flynn, TDOT spokeswoman, said Highways Inc. of Brentwood, Tenn., was awarded the approximately $15.4 million contract for the 2.7-mile project.
"The contractor will be clearing right of way and relocating utilities," Mrs. Flynn said. "The contractor is using a flagging operation to navigate construction equipment through the project."
When the project is finished, the current two-lane highway will have two lanes each northbound and southbound, a passing lane and sidewalks.
ABOUT THE PROJECTLength: From Gilliland Road to U.S. Highway 64 (state Route 311): 2.7 milesCost: $15.4 millionEstimated completion: June 2012Source: TDOT
Craig Mullinax, water division manager for Cleveland Utilities, said moving the utilities will be a big project on its own.
"That project is going to begin fairly quickly," he told the utility board recently after a preconstruction conference with the contractor. "The project will take about two and a half years. That includes paving, the widening, the complete project."
It all will be paid for by the state, Mr. Mullinax said.
After two years of right-of-way acquisitions, dozens of homes have been razed or moved from the new road path, and a small store has been closed.
The road construction should offer few problems for parents and school buses entering and leaving Waterville Community Elementary School, principal Charlene Cofer said.
"I am optimistic," she said.
One reason, she said, is that the school sits far back from the highway and winding driveways allow students and parents to enter and leave each day very quickly.
"That was good planning on somebody's part when the school board built this school," she said.