Sign Construction Begins, December Completion

Trees down at the I-40/Jefferson Avenue exit, the first step toward construction of Cookeville’s two new gateway monument signs.

Community Development Director Jon Ward said they received permission from T-DOT to clear out the trees from a section of land. Ward said the notice to proceed was issued to the contractor on July 22 and the contractor is preparing to get started on construction.

“The Willow I-40 location there’s ample area off of the on, off of the off ramp for the construction activities,” Ward said. “And we’ve also made arrangements around the Jefferson location too to try to minimize any impacts on traffic there.”

The signs should be complete by December. Ward said the two identical limestone signs will have artwork in the form of bronze seals applied to them.

“These will be super nice signs,” Ward said. “We hope that it’s, you know, a welcome sign to folks visiting our community and draws some attention to us. They should be something that we’re all proud of.”

Ward said it will be up to the contractor to choose how to handle the work from here and will determine which order they want to erect the signs in.

“We’d assume that there’s some work that would be done concurrently, but that’s certainly up to them,” Ward said. “The contract was to construct both gateway monuments signs within that time period.”

Council will consider an agreement Thursday night with Cracker Barrel, to more easily access the site through the restaurant parking lot.