News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Work has started on improvements and widening of the Highway 127 corridor between Crossville and Jamestown.
T-DOT Spokesperson Jennifer Flynn said utility relocation has begun in Cumberland County to widen 4.9 miles from north of I-40 to Potato Farm Road for $62.9 million dollars. Flynn said there are seven individual widening projects included.
“The need is very apparent in the Cumberland and Fentress County area,” Flynn said. “Because U.S. 127 is a main corridor, it’s a U.S. route and it carries a lot of traffic between Jamestown and Crossville.”
Flynn said the projected completion date for widening 24.4 miles of Highway 127 is June 30, 2025. Flynn said the next section ahead in development is roughly 3 miles from North Lowe Road to Little Road in Clarkrange.
This section would be widened to four and five lanes, also putting a new bridge over Clear Creek. She said bids on that section are expected to open in the 3rd quarter of 2021.
“If there’s any kind of crash or anything like that on the corridor, there’s no way around,” Flynn said. “There’s just not a lot of room to get around if something happens on that, so traffic backs up. It’s just a very critical corridor and we’ve seen the need to improve the corridor for a long time.”
She said that each section of the 24.4 miles of Highway 127 is its own project. She said this state and federally funded widening initiative has been discussed for over a decade.
“It’s just economically impossible to widen a 24.4 mile section of a road,” Flynn said. “So we have to break it down into more manageable components.”
These are the seven different sections that will be widened on Highway 127 from Cumberland to Fentress County according to T-DOT:
Cumberland – From north of I-40 to near Potato Farm Road. 4.9 miles. The project includes the grading, drainage, construction of a concrete box bridge and paving on US-127.
Cumberland – From near Potato Farm Road. to near Hollow Ln. 3.5 miles. The right-of-way and/or utility process is underway.
Cumberland – From near Hollow Ln. to near Lowe Road. 3.1 miles. Engineering is underway.
Cumberland-Fentress – From near North Lowe Road. to near Little Road. North of SR-62 in Clarkrange. 3.3 miles.
Fentress – From near Little Road to north of Kilby Road 3.2 miles. The right-of-way and/or utility process is underway.
Fentress – From near Kilby Road to north of Banner Roslin Road. 3.5 miles. Environmental studies are complete (project in very early preliminary stages of the development process.)
Fentress – From north of Banner Roslin Road to the four-lane section north of Grimsley. 2.9 miles. Environmental studies are complete (project in very early preliminary stages of the development process.)
