The Cookeville City Council will decide Thursday on awarding a bid for the extension of Henley Drive from Sam’s Street to Bunker Hill Road.
Cookeville City Manager James Mills presented the details during Monday’s work session. Mills said the extension has been part of the major street plan for decades and involves a unique collaboration between the city and private owners.
“These kind of projects I love doing, when you get buy-in from property owners and from businesses, it makes these things, in my mind, no-brainers,” Mills said. “Especially for something like this, for the benefit it’s going to have for our community.”
The project will create a three-lane section just under 700 feet long featuring curbs, gutters, storm sewers, and sidewalks. Mills said the city opened bids on last Thursday and received four submissions for the work.
“It provides that direct connection with this extension from Bunker Hill Road all the way out to South Jefferson,” Mills said.
Several entities contributed to the project, including TIP Enterprises and Rogers Group donating property for right-of-way easements. Additionally, State Representative Ryan Williams worked with T-DOT to include permanent signals at the intersection of Henley Drive and South Jefferson.
“When you look at all these contributions combined, in my opinion, it well exceeds $500,000,” Mills said. “Well that’s $500,000 savings for our taxpayers.”
While the project was not originally in the budget for this year, the city will utilize the transportation fund balance to cover the costs. Mills said the fund currently holds $4 million and was set up specifically for pay-as-you-go transportation improvement projects.
“I still feel like we’ve saved this money up to spend it for projects that I think are going to have a huge benefit for our community,” Mills said.
Officials hope to have the construction completed within this fiscal year, weather permitting. The current bid stands at just over $533,000.