The second phase of the long-standing East Spring Street Sidewalk Project could take the next step this week.
Cookeville City Council will vote Thursday on an engineering agreement for phase two. Economic and Community Development Director Jon Ward said T-DOT approved the project in 2021, but the city has just received the grant contract. He said the project will pick up at the Spring Street and Raider Drive intersection where phase one terminated.
“It will extend to Carlen and across the Armory property to the Morningside property,” Ward said. “And it also includes sidewalk extensions up Carlen, all the way to the Putnam County Community Center and the school there at the end.”
Ward said the $52,000 contract would include environmental reevaluation and plan revisions to reflect the new scope of the project. He said the TDOT agreed to allow the city to knock the project out in sections to make it more affordable.
Ward the city hopes to bid out phase two this fall. He said the total project will likely require two more applications before it is complete.
“The section in front of Morningside is a very expensive section because it has walls and railing per the plans,” Ward said. “So, we didn’t have funding to complete that segment under the grant funding guidelines. Our strategy at this point is to try to do this in bites.”
City Manager James Mills said he has been aggravated with how long the project has taken. He said the city is in its 10th year with this grant.
“I do want to commend T_DOT,” Mills said. “They have agreed to work with us. They could have just not agreed to participate. They’ve let us break it into phases where it’s something that we can afford to do. If not, we wouldn’t have been able to do this project.”
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