Rural Counties Push for Improving Roadways to Increase Development

Local officials in some of the Upper Cumberland’s more rural areas are continuing to push for expanded four-lane roadways to increase development and industry.

Fentress County Executive Jimmy Johnson says although expanding roadways leading into the county would be great, discussions with the state and industrial businesses lead nowhere.

“It’d make all the difference in the world,” Johnson says. “The question (TDOT) always asks is, whenever you have a survey or something done, the state comes back and says you don’t have enough industry to really regulate a four-lane road. Then the industries say you don’t have a four-lane road to help us get in-and-out quickly.”

Officials met with the Tennessee Department of Transportation last week to discuss proposed road projects, many of which include expanding roadways in the region.

Jackson County Mayor Randy Heady says expanding more rural roadways like Highway 56 to four lanes is vital to his county’s economic and industrial future.

“I have a hard time getting (companies) to sit down with me or talk with me about relocating or moving to Jackson County because we don’t have the road,” Heady says. “They just see that as a danger, and they also see that as time-consuming… There’s very few places to pass somebody. If you get behind somebody doing 35 mph, you’re going to do 35 mph for 18 miles.”

However, Johnson says telling TDOT about projects is one thing compared to seeing actual results.

“It’s the after effect after pressuring your needs to get something done,” Johnson says. “We in Fentress County and I’m sure the six other (Dale Hollow District) counties appreciate all that TDOT has done for us, and they do have a lot. It’s just held us back a lot and I think if we can get it, I’m sure we can prosper with a four-lane or five-lane road.”

Johnson says the expansion of current rural roadways across the region would not only benefit the local communities, but the businesses and industries looking to move there as well.

“If you were to knock off 15 minutes off of a trip one-way, that’s 30 minutes off your whole trip,” Johnson says. “That’s another trip or two per day that you could actually make, and not only would it save your producers a lot of money but a four-lane versus a two- or a three-lane highway would be astronomical. you could just do so much more with it.”

Smith County Mayor Jeff Mason says projects in his area would benefit the county in more ways than development and industry alone.

“Our interstate interchange  right now is kind of chaos in the mornings and afternoons during school,” Mason says. “Just any part of the day it’s an adventure getting through there. We’re looking forward to TDOT’s solution there on what they’re going to do. There’s preliminary talk that they are going to go to five lanes there with a turning lane, but I don’t know if it will go through the county seat or what the full-range plan is there.”

Some of the projects proposed to TDOT include expanding US Route 127 from the Tennessee-Kentucky state line to Jamestown in Fentress County as well as improving parts I-40 in Smith County. TDOT unveiled a new project application process to the local officials last week to help implement the projects.