News
Public Learns More About TDOT Plans for Highway 56
May 25, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Several property owners along Highway 56 south turned out for a Design Public Meeting Thursday evening hosted by the Tennessee Department of Transportation to learn more about the state’s improvement plans for the road.
Robert Rodgers of the TDOT Region 2 Project Development Office gave a power point presentation of the plans and then took questions from the audience. Detailed maps of the project were also displayed for landowners and others to view.
The Highway 56 improvement will be conducted in three phases. The state plans to build largely two lanes of a proposed four lane project and maintain traffic on the existing Highway 56 (alignment) while construction is being done on the new portion.
TDOT proposes to let bids for two of the phases in December from south of the Warren County line to near Magness Road and from south of State Route 288 near Magness Road to East Bryant Street in Smithville. Construction is expected to begin by next spring. The third segment from near State Route 287 in Warren County to near the DeKalb County Line is not yet ready for bid letting.
“The current bid schedule is the winter of 2018. Currently it is in the December letting which means construction should start in earnest when spring begins in 2019. The second and the third phases currently are scheduled to be let together. Which end is started on, that will be for discussions between our construction office and the contractor. He may decide to start on the north end or the south end of the project,” said Rodgers.
Following the meeting, Rodgers gave a general description of the project for WJLE.
“On the southern part from the DeKalb County line up to Vaughn Lane, its going to be a two lane roadway. There will be left turn lanes at the side roads. As we get closer to Smithville where some of the intersecting roads are offset there will be some extended sections of three lanes. Once we get to Vaughn Lane we will be expanding to the three lane typical all the way up to just past Morgan Branch. When we get past Morgan Branch we will be building a five lane section with curb and gutters and sidewalks,” said Rodgers.
According to Rodgers, the state will deviate from the existing road in the Shiney Rock area in order to bypass the cemeteries.The highway will then tie back in to the existing alignment in Smithville.
“Where the church and the cemetery are now, we are going off alignment because there was not room to fit the proposed finished road in between the two. Traffic on that section will stay on the existing road until the new road is complete,” said Rodgers.
One property owner affected by the project expressed his frustrations during the meeting with TDOT for changing the plans from the original design and he took issue with TDOT for saying all the rights of ways have been acquired.
“This is impacting my farm in several different places. I have been lied to from day one about how this project was going to happen and how it was going to come down. Every time we look at what you propose it changes and you have not bought all the rights of ways yet. I feel like with some people, their impact may be different now with your new drawings compared to what it was with the previous drawings. I think a lot of this is very unfair,” said the frustrated property owner.
Another man questioned how the project between Vaughn Lane and South Tittsworth Road will impact his row cropping operation in that area.
“We row crop all that land between Vaughn Lane and South Tittsworth. How am I going to operate not knowing what you are going to take?. Are you staying strictly with the right of way? It looks like there might be a 240 foot right of way purchased there. I was told when the construction phase begins they may need a lot more land,” he said.
“We are staying with the right of way we have purchased for that property,” replied Rodgers. “ However there is one spot at the beginning of the project where there is a stream where we will have to acquire slightly more property,” he added.
The proposed cross sections for the project are as follows:
*From south of State Route 287 to north of Bessie Gribble Road-two 12-foot travel lanes with a 12-foot continuous center turn lane, four-foot shoulders and ditches.
* From north of Bessie Gribble Road to Vaughn Lane-two 12-foot travel lanes with 12-foot shoulders and ditches. There will be left turn lanes at intersecting roadways.
*From Vaughn Lane to north of Morgan Branch-two 12-foot travel lanes with a 12-foot continuous center turn lane, 12-foot shoulders and ditches.
*From north of Morgan Branch to East Bryant Street- four 12-foot travel lanes with a 12-foot continuous center turn lane, four foot shoulders, two-foot curb and gutter, a sidewalk within a 10 foot utility strip on either side.
DMS Seeks Donations for Saint Bernard Clothing Market (VIEW VIDEO HERE)
May 24, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
If you’re planning to clean out your closets over the summer to get rid of some older clothes your kids have outgrown, the DeKalb Middle School Saint Bernard Clothing Market will be glad to take them off your hands.
Donations will be accepted for the second annual market at DeKalb Middle School on Friday, June 8th from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and Monday, July 23rd from 8:00 a.m. until noon.
Suzette Barnes and Angela Johnson, sponsors of the DMS Student Council said the clothing market was started last summer as a way of serving students who were in need of clothes and shoes.
“Last summer we had a vision of providing clothes and shoes to our students. We have several students in our building who wear the same outfit multiple days a week or their shoes are falling apart. We talked about what we wanted to do but didn’t know how it would go. We asked for donations and the community supplied us with those donations which we were very grateful for. We had our student council students come in and help sort and hang the clothes and group them by sizes which was community service hours for those students and then we went from there,” said Barnes.
After the clothes were collected, the school set aside days where all students in the 6th through 8th grade at the school could shop for clothes and shoes free of charge.
Johnson said the market served a great need.
“Last year we had a grandparent who came in to shop for a pair of shoes for her grandson. She said he desperately needed a pair of shoes. We had a teacher here who looked through all the shoes we had for boys and we had none to fit him. She (grandparent) said I think he will have to take a pair of girls shoes because he is in desperate need of shoes. At that point the teacher said no we will make sure that we get him a pair of shoes and we did,” said Johnson.
Again this summer the market will accept anything from youth large to adult extra large sizes of clothes along with shoes and backpacks. “We don’t turn anything down. We will go through it, size it, and lay it out for the students to pick from,” said Johnson.
“If you want to help but don’t have clothes to donate we will be glad to take a monetary donation then we can go buy clothes or shoes for kids,” added Barnes.
“We have also asked our student council members to prepare hygiene bags this year including shampoo, soap, hair brushes, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and those types of things. We will have those for males and females. If you would like to donate those type items, that would be very beneficial,” Barnes continued.
Johnson said students will have a three day shopping spree when school starts in late July and early August.
“ July 31 will be 6th grade registration night and those 6th grade students will be able to come in with their parents and shop that night for free. On August 1 which is registration day for 7th & 8th grade students at our school, they will be able to come in and shop that day. We will also keep the market open on the first full day in case there are students who didn’t get to come out and shop. We’ll let them shop that day,” said Johnson.
“ I want the community to know there is a need and the recipients are very thankful. We are also very thankful for the overwhelming support and response we got from the community. We want you to know that this is a great benefit,” added Johnson.
DeKalb Schools Youth Art Exhibit to be held Saturday (VIEW VIDEO HERE)
May 24, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Art work of students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade will be on display Saturday at the annual DeKalb Schools Youth Art Exhibit at the county complex.
The show will be from 1-3 p.m. and winners will be awarded in five divisions of competition along with an overall “Best of Show” and “People’s Choice Award”.
Spokesperson Susan Hinton was a guest with Dan Delacruz of Smithville Computer on WJLE’s Tech Talk Program Thursday morning to talk about the art show.
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