Jamestown Applies For Traffic Light Grant

Jamestown has applied for a non-matching grant to replace the north and south red lights at the courthouse square.

Mayor Lyndon Baines said the city will also look at adding push button pedestrian signals at the northern light.

“Because we are growing downtown, and I feel like that’s a safety issue that needs to be addressed,” Baines said. “It’s a 100-percent grant with no match at up to $500,000. We’ve talked to our people who usually do the red lights around here, and it’s (proposed project) going to be way under $500,000.

The Jamestown City Council voted to apply for the Tennessee Department of Transportation grant during last month’s meeting.

Baines said TDOT should have completed the project when they redid Highway 52 and made the sidewalks ADA accessible several years ago.

“These lights have been here for at least over 20-years,” Baines said. “They should have done it then, but TDOT said we didn’t need it at that time.”

Baines said the sate should award the grants sometime after the new year. If awarded, he expects the project to get under way in the middle of 2020.