After nearly three years of trying to get the proper caution lights installed at a troublesome intersection, the county commission voted Monday night to change plans again when they learned that state funding for the job may have finally been approved.
The intersection of US 70 and Highway 83 has been the scene of numerous collisions in the last few years, and the county had recently given up on state funding and agreed to pay for the work locally.
The contract was awarded to Stansell Electric at a cost of approximately $30,000, but when the company attempted to apply for job permits from the state representatives were apparently told that state funding had been approved.
"We've been three years trying to get lights put up at the intersection of Highway 70 and 83,” County Mayor Mike Foster said Monday night. “We thought we had contracted with Stansell Electric to put up those lights but when they went to get the permit to put them up they got this response.
"Many months ago, I talked to TDOT about trying to get them to put up caution lights there because we felt like it was an extremely dangerous intersection,” Foster added.
“We had 18-20 wrecks at that intersection. We felt like it would come under their guidelines to correct this extremely dangerous situation. We had applied but I had not been told anything, but apparently we did get approval. I have now been informed that this project has been approved through the Stop Safety Program and that TDOT and is currently under design and will go to bid under this program at a later date. TDOT has said that if the county wishes to pull its request from the Stop Safety program, it could but the county would be financially responsible for the work and would need to obtain the proper permits in order to proceed," said Foster.
The commission voted to table any further action on proceeding with the project until Foster obtains official confirmation from TDOT on state funding.
Many of the commissioners expressed concern that even though state funding would save the county a great deal of money, they worry that since it has taken three years just to approve funding that it may also take TDOT an excessive amount of time to complete the project as well.
Meanwhile, the commission agreed not to act on a school board request that the county request that the County Technical Advisory Service (CTAS) do a traffic study on local school zones.
County Attorney Hilton Conger told the commissioners that he had received a letter from Director of Schools Mark Willoughby requesting that the county ask for the study, but his research indicates  that CTAS does not perform traffic studies.
"I did check with CTAS and got a response back from them that CTAS does not do traffic studies," Conger told the commission.