County highways vie for federal dollars

TOMMY MILLSAPS
MONROE COUNTY ADVOCATE
APRIL 4, 2005

A proposed $284 billion federal transportation bill making its way through Congress has funding for several Monroe County projects, including $5 million for completing the final 5.1 miles of the Highway 411 project.

It's all part of a six-year transportation bill Congress has been working nearly three years to hammer out, a spokesman from U.S. Rep. John Duncan Jr.'s office said. Spokesman Matt Lehigh said Congress in recent years has passed extensions of the previous six-year highway bill but there is a strong desire in both the House and Senate to get a new six-year bill passed soon.

According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, completing the four-lane project for Highway 411 (State Route 33) from the McMinn County line north to Madisonville Bypass is already included in the state's current construction budget.

The project is currently slated for bid letting in June. "If we were to receive specific funding through the (federal) highway act for this project, it might reduce the amount of funding we would have to use through our regular federal allocations," TDOT spokeswoman Kim Keelor said.

Keelor said the total 5-mile Highway 411 project is projected to cost about $11.7 million as of now. Other funding included in the proposed federal transportation bill:

. $300,000 for street scaping. Lehigh said that money can be spent at the local government's discretion. County Mayor Allan Watson said part of this money will be to repair sidewalks in downtown Madisonville.

. $100,000 for paving, lighting and sidewalks for the Cherohala Skyway Visitors Center.

. $96,000 to improve vehicle detection system at a railroad crossing in Sweetwater.