News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville is taking steps to work on expanding the Rail Trail from the Cookeville Depot to Cane Creek.
Leisure Services Director Rick Woods said that they hope to address potential challenges to expansion through an agreement with a strategic planning group.
“How do we make a trail that connects with our depot trial head and goes westward towards West End Park and Cane Creek Park and eventually on to Baxter,” Woods said. “But how do we get across those two hurdles of Willow Avenue and Highway 70.”
Woods said that should city council approve the agreement Thursday night, the planning group’s first phase of work will be data collection. He said the group will study traffic counts, roadway and sidewalk widths, parking, and locations of curbs.
“It makes sense forus to follow the streets that get us to that area,” Woods said. “The existing streets and sidewalks to get us to that area. Perhaps make improvements whether it’s road improvements and we put a path alongside the road or whether it’s sidewalk expansion or a sidewalk creation along a route that would get us from Point A to Point B and make it safe and efficient for us to be there and follow that route.”
Woods said that the cost of the agreement for the total scope of work is estimated not to exceed $31,000. He said that the department originally budgeted $75,000. Woods said that they estimate about six to eight weeks for the data collecting process.
