News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Baxter Board of Aldermen and Mayor voiced their opinions on TDOT saying a traffic light at their busiest intersection will have to wait until 2020.
City and state officials met Wednesday to discuss a corridor study that would include adding a signal at the Highway 70N and 56 intersection.
Mayor John Martin said although it wasn’t the news he was wanting, he learned a lot about TDOT’s process.
“I got educated [Wednesday],” Martin said. “It’s terrible that everything takes so long when dealing with the government. But when I sat there and I saw everything within this project, there’s a lot more than sitting four poles out there. I never imagined what was really involved in putting a traffic signal out there.”
Alderman Greg Phillips voiced his frustrations with state officials over the traffic signal being delayed.
“I think people really ought to think when they vote… think about who is going to help towns like us instead of holding us back,” Phillips said. “We’ve been held back by the state here in this town all my life. It just really sticks in your craw when you see that. Is somebody else going to have to die, or is a school bus going to get run over, or what’s going to happen?”
Martin said he agreed with Phillips’ sentiments on the traffic light and added it’s “been too long”.
“We can’t force anybody to do things. It’s mind-boggling everything that is required to get a project like this done,” Martin said. “It has been approved to start the building stage in 2020. They said it might be into 2021 before it’s completed… We can all say it’s unacceptable but we are at their graces. There is nothing we can do.”
TDOT is currently conducting environmental and traffic studies on the intersection before construction begins. Adding a traffic signal at the intersection was one of the Putnam County Transportation Committee’s top priorities based on a public survey earlier this summer.
