Concerns expressed Thursday about updates to the construction timeline for widening US 127 In Fentress County.
T-DOT revealed during the Center Hill and Dale Hollow RPO meeting the section from Little Road to the four-lane north of Grimsley, would not see construction begin until 2033. Fentress County Executive Jimmy Johnson said he has received pushback from residents about when the construction will begin in the specific section.
“What I am getting the pushback on is where they are selling the property, and then now they are aware that it’s not gonna get done in seven to eight years instead of three to five,” Johnson said.
T-DOT’s Curt Duncan said the project has been moved from the three-to-five-year plan to the ten-year plan. Duncan said T-DOT is still working to acquire right-of-ways for the project.
“We started that project in right-of-way, which the 01, we will continue that,” Duncan said. “We will line that up to align with the 02(phase),03 (phase), finishing roughly at the same time, and then go into construction.”
In Cumberland County, the SR-28/US127 widening project phases three and four are expected to begin construction in 2026.
“Right now, the first section and our fifth section, if you will, are under construction near the interstate going north about three miles and then south of Clarkrange for about three miles. So sometime next year we will be letting the 03 and the 04, depends as the way I designate them, in between those two sections, as 01 and 05 are wrapping up.
Construction for I-40 Exit 338 Interchange improvements and improvements to SR-229 are expected to begin in 2029. The construction date for the I-40 bridges going over Drowning Creek and Creston Road in Cumberland County has yet to be determined.