In a two-birds-with-one-stone stroke, Macon County will soon gain direct access to Interstate 40, and lose the most dangerous stretch of road in the county.
Hwy. 10, starting at its intersection with Hwy. 52 Bypass W, is the second most dangerous road in the Upper Cumberland, according to County Mayor Glen H. Donoho, and also one of the most traveled.
“There are more wrecks on that stretch of road than anywhere else in the county,” said Donoho. “A lot of people go to work that way every day.”
When county officials were asked by state representatives Mae Beavers and Frank Buck several years ago what kind of road work would most benefit the county, Hwy. 10 was the apparent answer. The county's other choice was Corrider J, known as the Union Camp Road project to Macon Countians.
The first section of the Hwy. 10 project, planned to be completed in four sections, begins at the Hwy. 52 Bypass and extends south to the Meadorville Bridge.
Two steps of the three-step process necessary to begin the project have been completed - the environmental study and the engineering. Now the state is now ready to begin buying right-of-ways, said Donoho.
The new, two lane road will have a turn lane the length of the center - which really makes it a three lane road - and 12 foot shoulders on each side. It will be wide enough to be turned into a four lane road in the future if and when state traffic studies indicate the need.
The second section of the project will begin at Hwy. 25 in Trousdale County and head north. The third section begins at the Meadorville Bridge, where the first section ended, and go to the Trousdale/Macon County Line. Section four begins at the line and will connect up with the completed second section.
Within eight years, said Donho, Hwy. 10 will cross Hwy. 25 - just outside of Hartsville where the roads now meet - go across the fields, over a new Cumberland River Bridge, and meet up with Hwy. 141, which will take Macon Countians straight to Interstate 40.
Funding for the new bridge across the Cumberland River is in the state's budget for next year, said Donoho.
The first section of the Hwy. 10 project will cost the state about 10 million dollars, according to the Mayor...
“Mae Beavers and Frank Buck need to get the credit for this,” Donoho said. “I have never called on them for any type of help that they didn't respond.”
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