Peavine problems persist
By BILL PIECUCH
For The Vista
In March 2000 The Tennessee Department of Transportation marched boldly ahead and set aside $23 million to fund for widening of Peavine Road from roughly I-40 to Westchester Drive in the Glade. Perhaps buoyed, the Fairfield Glade Community Club’s offer in 1999 to donate right-of-way property club helped for smoother travel vibes to prevail.
Thirteen years later construction is stalled, rumors and misinformation persist and costs doubled to over $46-million. The Club bailed out on its end of the deal because the cost of property at that time was sizzling. Traffic from I-40 to Westchester, in the meantime, climbed from 10,478 to 12,779 vehicles per day. That’s hardly a surprise as cars tilt in ditches and ambulances zooming by become commonplace.
Some TDOT, contractors and government types interviewed say it might be two, maybe three years before the Peavine expansion is completed. OK, why the long wait? Stories and taless abound. So, start with this strange one: How about the mating of bats? Yes, those ugly, flying bats. Their very existence is stalling construction! Honest. That’s because TDOT must honor environmental law which protects endangered species.
No study, no construction. So, get on with it already.
And those big, steel electricity poles? Hold your breath. Sources say some might be located in the wrong location at the wrong time. Finding a new pathway creates tension between TDOT and Volunteer Energy Cooperative. The big hang-up is relocation of electric poles near the Peavine and Catoosa road juncture. Relocation means more property acquisition and higher project costs. All this occurs as the clock yawns ever-onward.
TDOT also funds projects in phases, which is why it takes longer to get a project from idea to reality. That’s not bad fiscal practice, though, because Tennessee is one of five states that does not borrow money to fund transportation projects. Transportation revenues come from federal transportation monies and state funding resources. Those state funds come from a combination of dollars collected from gas and diesel tax revenues, registration fees, and bonds. Once a project is defined, dollars are allocated and cannot be at the mercy of governmental shell games.
A bit of history: The project begins at Firetower Road (Firetower is where Peavine narrows from five to two lanes as you cautiously leave the wine store) and continues east to Westchester Drive/Catoosa Blvd.
The overall project is divided into two parts: One is a 2.9 mile section from Firetower to Lakeview Drive. The second section runs from Lakeview Drive to Westchester. It will feature 12-inch paved shoulders for the first three-quarter mile stretch (from 1-40) and the remaining highway will have 10-inch paved shoulders and two-inch curb and full sidewalks.
Because Lefty’s has already left the building, there is indication of the new paved road’s pathway. That sharp turn on Peavine, near Lefty’s, for example, will be history — thank goodness. Some say the parking lot at Family Dollar will be clipped off and the new Peavine will rejoin the “old” Peavine near the former site of the Baptist Church which smartly (and some say “divinely”) moved.
Here is a bit of good (and bitter) news: Due to the high amount of seniors in the Glade, larger signing and striping is planned.
Let’s hope we can live long enough to see the signs.