Sparta Working To Improve Intersection

Sparta is working to improve the Walmart intersection on Highway 111.

Mayor Jeff Young said as new development on Taft Church Road increased, the city began to notice traffic problems.

“There’s a lot of area that can be developed adjacent to those properties there, the Walmart and Shell station,” Young said. “There’s already a little bit of a traffic problem now when people try to come from those areas and enter back on the Highway 111, whether they are traveling north or south.”

Since the intersection improvement involves access to a state road, Young said Sparta has to get permission from the state.

“What we’re doing is trying to get approval from T-DOT to do a multi-lane access going left, which is going north, and and one lane turning right, which is going south,” Young said. “That will let traffic come out of that Taft Church area at a much faster rate.”

Young said there will not be much actual work to fix the intersection.

“It’s primarily not a lot of construction,” Young said. “We’re just doing a very small section of widening, but we’ll mostly be restriping the lanes. We’ll just be adding a turn lane going north.”

City officials have already had field visits from T-DOT, so Young said he is confident the project will be approved.

“Those visits have been very positive,” Young said. “Actually one portion of the project was there suggestion. At this point, we just do a set of engineering plans, and there are several things they ask for. We’ll get our engineer to get all our plans together and we’ll submit those to T-DOT for a permit.”

Young said depending on how fast TDOT gives approval, the work can be completed by the end of the year.