Officials of the Tennessee Department of Transportation met Thursday night with property owners who will be affected by the proposed widening and improvement of Highway 56 south between East Bryant Street and Magness Road in DeKalb County.
The meeting was held at Northside Elementary School.
Bryant Williams, TDOT Transportation Specialist from the Right of Way Office in Chattanooga, said property owners got a chance to see the plans and to ask questions. “We’re here to show the property owners the plans and explain how the plans will affect their properties. We’re also here to see if there’s any mistakes as far as property lines or names of the owners, on the plans.”
“This project starts at Magness Road and extends about five miles to East Bryant Street. Part of the project will be curbs and gutters and part of it down to the south will be a divided highway with four lanes. The part toward town will be four lanes with curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and a turning lane.”
“Right now we’re showing six relocation tracks. We have a total of 70 tracks we’ll have to buy. We should be out buying in the spring of 2007. The appraisal work is going to be starting soon. The project letting date is the spring of 2008, that’s when the project will go to letting for construction. The construction work will start sometime after that.”
In addition to the six relocations, the county’s garbage collection convenience site on Highway 56 will have to be removed.
Officials say a portion of Highway 56 will be redesigned taking a new path, east of the existing route, from near the Smithville City Limits to near Smithville Nursery.
Intersections at Old Blue Springs Road and Keltonburg Road are also expected to be redesigned.
Many property owners affected by the new road are unhappy with the proposed project and some expressed their opposition during Thursday night’s meeting.
Archived News & Obituaries