Cookeville Identifies Three Road Projects In New Budget

Three road projects have been included in Cookeville’s new fiscal year budget after a pool of projects were considered by city officials.

City Council will consider the budget for approval on first reading Thursday night. City Manager James Mills said the projects include the extension of West 12th Street.

“At the railroad tracks where it narrows down to two lanes,” Mills said. “We had that on our to-do list for over a decade. Sot hat would be to match it with the rest of 12th Street and install sidewalks.”

Mills said that the other projects include reconnecting Salem Church Road and England Drive, and extending Henley Drive near Sam’s Club. He said that they hope to alleviate traffic that goes to Bunker Hill Road.

Finance Director Brenda Imel said that they decided to allocate some $805,000 to the transportation and infrastructure fund. Imel said that they also allocated an additional $50,000 for the Cane Creek Shoreline Stabilization project, and some $10,000 for a fire department rescue truck.

“We rolled over the cost of the truck, $35,000, but we can’t wrap a truck until it gets here,” Imel said. “So we’ve increased that rollover amount for another $10,000. And both of those items are non-recurring, one-time items.”

Imel said that they also increased expenditures in the quality of life fund to cover six pickleball courts instead of three.