Tullahoma’s next Board of Mayor & Aldermen meeting on Oct. 10 will include further discussions of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, so we‘d like to take this opportunity to point out some of the finer details of the plan and show how smart spending will benefit our community as a whole.
Of the $5,802,232 allocated to the City of Tullahoma for the ARPA, the Board of Mayor & Aldermen set aside $1,200,000 of the budget approved last May for North Jackson Streetscape Plan Improvements. There’s been a clear, rather urgent need for North Jackson streetscaping for years (this was designed by the community in 2019), and a boost of $1.2 million to continue that effort is a huge win for our city. We’ve heard from visiting industry, local businesses and residents that this section of our community looks tired and is in major need of beautification—and we couldn’t agree more.
Streetscaping and sidewalks
What is streetscaping, though? It’s an investment in improving the region of Jackson Street that is the economic engine of our community by upgrading the light poles, stop lights and crosswalks. It’s working with TDOT to study the addition of a new crosswalk in front of the high school, which is needed for the safety of our youth that don’t have the advantage of a car. It’s timing the stop light signals so they’re unified from one end of town to another.
It’s connecting pieces of sidewalk that don’t currently link up, replacing the narrow sections and creating a cohesive walking and biking pathway from Greenwood Cemetery to Walmart. It’s planting trees and tackling other landscaping projects that will make our community more attractive, not only to outside investment and potential new residents, but for those of us who already live here, too. Have y’all been to Winchester lately? The curb appeal there can be boiled down to trees, planters and paint, and it looks gorgeous.
Stormwater and drainage issues
The engineers who work on and design these systems haven’t been able to predict the massive rain events that we seem to experience regularly, and areas that are marginal or known problem spots will always be overwhelmed by Waverly-like storms.
The number one comment and need that has been expressed by Tullahoma residents in recent years is addressing the increasing rain and flooding occurring in multiple neighborhoods across the city. Of the $5,802,232 allocated for ARPA, $1,192,640 has been set aside for stormwater projects.
The stormwater program is split between actual fixes to some of the most affected areas of town and studies to evaluate the best path forward for problem spots. It rains a lot in Tennessee, and this is something that we need to continue addressing with routine upgrades and maintenance for the foreseeable future.
Proposed Stormwater Program projects:
-Street Sweeper
-Comprehensive Stormwater Plan
-S. Washington/Town & Country Subdivision Drainage Assessment
-N. Washington/N. Atlantic/N. Jackson st at L&H Distributing Drainage Assessment
-Ovoca Road/Riley Creek Road Drainage Improvements and Sidewalk/ADA Improvements
-Jefferson Street/Monroe Street Box Culvert Replacements and Sidewalk/ADA Improvements
If you’re invested in improving our community, it never hurts to show your support by calling, emailing or meeting our governmental representatives in person. Comments on this post will also be seen by them so feel free to chime in via the Facebook comment section.