August 14, 2022 – South Cumberland Street in Morristown is getting a major facelift, thanks to the RAISE Grant, which brings an award of $23,430,325 to improve the corridor into the community.
City officials said the South Cumberland corridor has long been identified as an are in need of safety and aesthetic improvements. In 2021, a study of the S. Cumberland Street corridor was conducted with public input. Following the study, the Lakeway Area Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (LAMTPO) together with the city, identified some potential improvements that could be made to the South Cumberland corridor to make it safer for both pedestrians and motorists.
The Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Discretionary Grant Program is a federal grant to help urban and rural communities move forward on projects that modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports and intermodal transportation systems to be safer, more accessible, more affordable and more sustainable.
This year, Morristown is one of three cities in Tennessee to be awarded the grant. Projects were evaluated on several criteria, including safety, environmental sustainability, quality of lift, economic competitiveness and opportunity, partnership and collaboration, innovation, state of good repair and mobility, and community connectivity.
This two-part project will include new traffic signal coordination on Buffalo Trail/North Cumberland St./S. Cumberland St. from N. Liberty Hill Rd. to Lincoln Avenue. Intersections will be refitted with traffic signal mast arms and crosswalks upgraded to meet ADA standards. A complete streets redesign will improve the roadway, creating a shared turning land, add sidewalks, a multiuse path, and attractive landscaping.
“This project will improve the safety and movement for all multimodal transportation (vehicular, bicycle, pedestrian) needs throughout the entire corridor, but will also help improve the aesthetics of South Cumberland Street when coming into town,” said Rich DesGroseilliers, LAMTPO Coordinator. “The improvements will be a great benefit to businesses located along this roadway, residents, customers, and visitors to our community.”
The city of Morristown and the LAMTPO will begin taking steps immediately to work with the Federal Highway Administration and TDOT to initiate the project. Projects of this scale utilizing federal funds require various environmental review and other preliminary steps that can take a considerable amount of time. Citizens can anticipate that construction is not likely to commence until 2025 or 2026.
Source: Citizen Tribune
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