DeKalb County has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation under the Local Roads Safety Initiative Program to improve conditions on certain county roads where there have been fatalities or incapacitating injuries within the last ten years.
A top ten list of roads has been compiled and prioritized based on the need. TDOT will assist the county in erecting guardrails, stop signs, and other safety measures.
“We got a grant from TDOT for $250,000 which will be used to improve certain roads which have had a fatality or incapacitating injury on them within the last ten years,” said County Mayor Mike Foster at Monday night’s county commission meeting. “We met recently and rated these roads. They went and looked at all of them to determine which roads would be worked on to accomplish some of the things for safety,” he said
The top three roads are Bright Hill, Blue Springs, and Four Seasons. “The first road was Bright Hill Road. There have been some fatalities on it and several accidents,” said Foster.
“Blue Springs Road will be primarily at the intersection of Bethel and Blue Springs Road,” he said
“Four Seasons Road is at the big dog leg left turn, where if you miss it, you could go off about 400 feet below into the lake. They are going to put some guardrails there. There’s another place closer to the dock where they’re talking about putting in some guardrails,” said Foster.
“Hopefully we’ll have enough money to get to all of those (all ten roads identified),” he said.
“Guardrails will be put in on some roads. Some will be as simple as putting in stop signs and rumble strips. Some roads will have new markings and signs and some existing markings will be repainted. A shoulder problem will be improved on one of the roads,” said Foster.
The top ten roads identified with a need for safety improvements are as follows:
1. Bright Hill Road. (2.1 miles) three incapacitating and two fatal crashes
2. Blue Springs Road (5.4 miles) one incapacitating and one fatal crash
3. Four Seasons Road (6.4 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
4. Casey Cove Road (2.4 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
5. Jefferson Road near Pates Ford (5.9 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
6. Smith Fork Road (5.8 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
7. Hurricane Ridge Road (2.8 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
8. Lakeview Drive (2.8 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
9. Chapman Hollow Road (2.1 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
10. Indian Mound Road (1.1 miles) no incapacitating and one fatal crash
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