New Traffic Patterns on State Highway 56 South

November 18, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

New traffic patterns!

State Highway 56 is not what it used to be and motorists traveling from Smithville to the Warren County line are noticing that with new traffic patterns.

According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, traffic in recent days has been diverted from more portions of the old highway to the new highway alignment.

In its weekly update on state highway construction projects, TDOT reports that “Motorists should use caution at the intersection of State Route 56 and Ferrell Road, and State Route 56 and Williams Road as these are all newer traffic patterns utilizing the new alignment. There are multiple traffic shifts and detours in place throughout the project to allow the contractor to complete work for the new alignment.

The contractor has made major traffic shifts this week. Traffic has been shifted onto the newly constructed alignment South of Webb Lane through North of State Route 288. Motorists using Magness Road, Webb Lane, private drives, State Route 288, and Blue Springs Road should be vigilant at those intersections to the new alignment”.

“The contractor will also shift traffic from South of Douglas Road through North of College Street onto the newly constructed alignment. Motorists utilizing Douglas Road, County House Road, South Tittsworth, private drives, and College Street should be vigilant at those intersections to the new alignment.
Motorists should use South Tittsworth and the newly constructed Jacobs Pillar Road to access State Route 56 once traffic is shifted onto the new alignment. Work will be on-going near College Street and Douglas Road to complete grade work. The speed limit has been reduced to 45 mph in the construction zone.
Motorists should expect delays, watch for flaggers, and use caution when traveling through the work zone”.

“The contractor will continue grade work and paving operations on the new roadway alignment. Paving operations will be on-going at multiple locations through the project. The contractor is utilizing flagging operations in multiple areas for grading and paving operations,” TDOT said in its weekly update.

TDOT reported last month that the State Highway 56 construction project was running behind schedule and the contractor, Jones Brothers, LLC had asked for more time to complete the work without penalty.

The bid was awarded in 2019 for the project which extends almost 8 miles from south of the Warren County line in DeKalb County to East Bryant Street in Smithville. The state is building largely two lanes with 10-foot shoulders along the route.

The original bid amount was $43,691,948 and the current contract bid amount including change orders is currently at $44,047, 150. The current approved adjusted completion date was August 17, 2022.

November 18, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A Dowelltown man has been charged in a Grand Jury sealed indictment with three counts of solicitation of sexual exploitation.

37-year-old Jonathan Wade Davis of Dale Ridge Road is under a $100,000 bond and he will be arraigned in DeKalb County Criminal Court on December 6.

In each of the three counts, the indictment alleges that “between the dates of July 17,2020 and March 4, 2022, Davis intentionally engaged in simulated sexual activity that is patently offensive or in sexual activity for the purpose of having a minor view it including circumstances where the minor was in the presence of the person”.

November 17, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

No more overflowing dumpsters!

County Mayor Matt Adcock has announced the implementation of a new solid waste management plan aimed primarily at emptying compactors and dumpsters more often at the county’s garbage collection convenience sites.

Under the plan, the county has identified highest to lowest priority convenience sites in three established districts based on how often the public makes use of them. Sanitation truck drivers will now pick up garbage only from the convenience sites in their assigned district. The idea is to streamline the routes and the time it takes to run them, so drivers are able to make pickups more often especially at the priority convenience sites to keep the trash from piling up and overflowing from the dumpsters. All garbage from all the sites is taken to the county’s transfer station.

The plan calls for the truck drivers to start their day at 6 a.m. and work through 2:30 p.m. According to County Mayor Adcock, this schedule will ensure that compactors and dumpsters are empty before the convenience sites open to the public Monday through Saturday at 9 a.m. Garbage pickups from the sites will be made at least once a day and sometimes more often.

“With this plan every convenience site will get attention every single day as well as the schools,” said County Mayor Adcock. “The convenience sites are listed in order from highest priority to lowest priority. This is determined by how busy each site is. This ensures that the highest priority sites are taken care of before the convenience site opens to the public. Instead of trying to empty every dumpster in the site before moving to the next one, the driver operator will empty only the compactor and one open top dumpster before moving to the next site. Before, only a few sites got attention in one day and with some sites it was every other day or longer. Under this plan, after a driver completes the route in his district, he will circle back to the highest priority sites and others if time permits to again unload as many open top dumpsters as possible until his shift is over,” said County Mayor Adcock.

Four convenience sites under the plan make up district 1 including Keltonburg, Blue Springs, Belk, and the Highway 56 or Shiny Rock location which is designated the highest priority pickup site in that district.

The plan’s district 2 includes Alexandria, Liberty, Temperance Hall, and Wolf Creek locations with Snow Hill being the highest priority site.

District 3 sites are Midway, the landfill at Johnson’s Chapel, Silver Point, and Village Market which is the highest priority location

One driver is assigned to pick up garbage at identified auxiliary sites which includes all schools, Austin Bottom, customer cans, and the jail among others.

This is the second sanitation policy change within the past month.

Effective October 30, County Mayor Adcock announced that all 12 DeKalb County Garbage Collection Convenience sites are to be closed to the public on Sundays but open Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Adcock said he made this decision to give the 24 part time employees who man the convenience sites Sundays off and to bring more uniformity to the operating hours during the week. Each of the employees are now scheduled to work 27 hours per week.

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