Cookeville Working To Remove Poles And Obstructions From Sidewalks

Cookeville trying to make the city’s sidewalks more pedestrian friendly by removing electric poles and obstructions.

Cookeville City Manager James Mills said the obstructions and poles are also causing difficulty with compliance with ADA requirements. Mills said city workers are working diligently, however, in certain areas of the city, the removal of poles has become more complicated.

“It’s a complicated issue when more than the city of Cookeville is located on the power poles,” Mills said. “Often we have telecommunication companies located on our poles and we have to work in coordination with them.”

Mills said that on East Hudgens Street, for example, the city had poles installed several months ago. Mills said despite the installation, Cookeville has still been waiting for the company to transfer their wiring from the old poles to the new ones.

“We have been in constant contact with them, the latest word is that they’re ready to start now,” Mills said. “So hopefully, hopefully, fingers crossed, the telecommunication company will move their cables within the next few weeks and we’ll be able to move those poles”

Mills said that the city has been having the same issue on 6th Street in waiting on a private company to move their poles.

“We do get complaints about that and comments about that,” Mills said. “But really we’re obligated to work with the telecommunication companies, we can’t just lay their lines on the ground.”

The city has been working on the project for several years. Crew worked to remove poles from 5th Street and Maple Avenue.

Mills said for the most part telecommunications companies have been cooperative with the city’s requests. Mills said that he understands that the removal is an unexpected expense for the companies, though the pole removal does improve citizens’ lives.