Boyd Farris Road Slope Repair Project Delayed

The Boyd Farris Road slope repair project has experienced a delay.

Cookeville Public Works Director Greg Brown said recent rain prevented the project from getting underway Monday.

“Falling Water River is still a little bit too high from the rain last week,” Brown said. “We’re going to try to wait until it goes down to a lower level. We want to make it safe for the guys and be able to see what’s going on, so we’re going to try to wait on that a little while before we start.”

Brown said the road in southeast Cookeville suffered damage during a heavy rain event that occurred in February 2019.

“Part of the road shoulder slid off into the river and it also compromised the road. Temporarily, we placed a lot of rock to try to stabilize it, but since then the road has still sunk some,” Brown said. “We applied for financial assistance from the Department of Agriculture and we received $80,000.”

The project requires a 20-percent match from the City of Cookeville. Brown said part of the work involves lowering the roadway closer to the river level.

“We’ll remove the debris that slid off into the river and restore the channel to where it was before,” Brown said. “Then, we’ll have some filter fabric to put in to keep the soils from migrating up through the rock that we’re going to place in over that. We’ll build it all up with large rock to stabilize it and cap it with crushed-stone and asphalt.”

Brown said rain expected this weekend could prevent the project from getting started next week.