Phase Two Of Cookeville’s 10th Street Widening Project Gets Underway

Utility work, gas relocation and sewer work now underway on phase two of Cookeville’s 10th Street widening project.

City Manager James Mills said drivers should be aware that utility work will last through the winter. The 18-month construction project will begin around March 1 on phase two between Wilson Avenue and Fisk Road.

“With the completion of phase one that was such a small segment, to actually get some impact on traffic, a reduction on traffic, or a better flow of traffic,  we need to go to at least Fisk,” Mills said. “At some point, we will need to go all the way to Washington.”

Mills said that the stretch of road has been graded an F by several traffic flow studies. Mills said the area becomes especially congested when schools in the area let out.

The street will be widened to five lanes and have sidewalks on either side once complete. Mills said the selected bid of some $7.6 million came in under what the city had expected this phase to cost.

Mills said the greatest threat to the project’s timeline may be bad soil in the area. Mills said phase one had a small section where bad soil complicated the project.

“In projects of this magnitude that involve this much dirt work and in that section of Cookeville, we’re known to have bad soils,” Mills said. “That’s always a concern. We factored in some costs for removing bad soils. We’re hopeful that we won’t run into a lot of that.”

Mills said the city was pleased with how phase one played out and hopes phase two will mirror that process.

“We think it turned out really well and for those who are interested in how phase two will look, that’s what we refer them to is phase one,” Mills said. “That’s the look we want to achieve for this section between Wilson and Fisk.”

Utility work will take place during weather appropriate times this winter.

“We ask motorists to be alert,” Mills said. “We want to be safe, and as I’ve said on multiple occasions, we ask people to be patient with us.”