Road projects are in various stages of completion across Loudon County, including one that travels through the heart of Tellico Village.
State Route 444, or Tellico Parkway, is set to be resurfaced, with the contract for work awarded to APAC Atlantic Inc., for $2.56 million.
At a pre-construction meeting July 10, resurfacing work was tentatively scheduled to begin in September, Mark Nagi, Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesman, said.
The road has been widened in four locations to allow for additional turn lanes — Ritchee Road, Amohi Way, Coyatee Point Drive and Poplar Ridge Road, and Coyatee Drive and Coyatee Shores.
“The additional turn lanes have been installed by our maintenance forces,” Nagi said in an email correspondence. “... So far, no work has been done on the project by the contractor.”
The project is on pace for a November completion date, Nagi said.
According to a release from TDOT, the resurfacing will cover 11.02 miles from Highways 72 to 321 and all resurfacing operations will take place at night to limit obstruction to traffic.
“The goal for this project was not only to increase the life of the road but to allow additional turn lanes and turn lane storage capacities,” the release said. “The approval of brown powder-coated guardrail will allow the safety devices to blend in along this beautiful scenic route.”
Queener moving slow
Widening and the addition of a sidewalk on Queener Road in Loudon is now in its second phase, which includes obtaining right of way before construction can begin.
“This project includes 35 tracts of land,” Jack Qualls, Loudon County Economic Development Agency director, said in an email correspondence. “The majority of the properties affected include slope easements and construction easements to allow the work to be completed. Owners will be contacted in the near future about property compensation based on the project.”
Qualls informed Loudon City Council during a July 9 workshop that the EDA would have to go to TDOT to request additional funds to complete the right of way phase of the project, which was initially budgeted well short.
“We’re working on the legal descriptions right now,” Qualls said during the meeting. “All the property owners have been notified that we’re in the right of way phase. The next step will be going out and making offers as soon as the legal description is approved by TDOT. The budget for that is about $50,000 short. There’s only $25,000 put in the right of way phase, so we’ll be going back and asking the state for some additional funds. So we’ll be having to price and match and all that stuff. I’m not sure why the project didn’t put enough money — that was another project I inherited and there wasn’t a lot of money in the right of way phase for some reason.
“Construction on the Queener Road project could be as much as a year away depending on how smoothly the right of way phase goes,” he added. “You may end up with a property owner out of town or someone who doesn’t want to sell and you have to go through the legal system.”
Additional projects
A bid has been selected for preliminary engineering and design work for the resurfacing of Highlands Avenue in Loudon from Highway 11 to Carding Machine Road.
The project will include milling portions of the road, repairing sidewalks and bringing them up to American with Disabilities Act compliance, replacing signs and striping the road.
“They’re only milling certain sections because the curb and gutter in certain sections is high enough,” Qualls said. “… In other sections it’s not where we’ve paved over the years and not milled before. So we’re just going to correct that. We want to make sure we don’t overlay, raising that above the gutter so that draining becomes an issue.”
Construction is scheduled to be bid out on traffic signal upgrades in the city of Loudon in the spring, and Blair Bend Road resurfacing is scheduled to bid out for construction next week.
Paving on Buttermilk Road was set to begin this week. Lighting at the intersection of Tellico Parkway and Highway 72 will be bid out for construction in October.
Dixie Lee Junction is nearly complete with some paving work still left to do. All work must be completed by Nov. 15.
Work along Highway 321 in Lenoir City is still on schedule for a June 30, 2019, completion date with no major issues to this point, Nagi said.
Amber Scott, Lenoir City administrator, echoed Nagi’s comments on the 321 project.
“I am unaware of any issues locally with the project other than traffic slow-down during this phase, which is to be expected,” she said in an email correspondence. “We appreciate everyone’s patience.”
