Letter to the Editor
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January 4, 2024
I have commuted daily 18 miles one-way on the 412 Hwy. connection to Columbia every day at 7:30 a.m. and at 4 p.m. since 2017, and I have watched how the traffic has increased to very dangerous levels. When a school bus stops to pick up children, we used to have 3-4 cars backed up. But recently we have over 40 cars impatient to pass. The increase in shift traffic to the new Spring Hill GM associated facilities have been incredible, and many are often running a late schedule and try to pass on very dangerous stretches on the 2-lane portion after the 4-lane portion ends. Traffic flows efficiently and safely on the 4-lane portion.
Mayor Kelter has advised me that he and Senator Hensley have recently attended a TDOT meeting, and that they were informed that the extension of the 4-lane 412 Highway to connect with Highway 43 is not on TDOT’s 10 year construction schedule. I have urged Mayor Kelter to put the issue on the County Commissioner’s schedule to: 1. Adopt a Lewis County resolution raising the issue to an extreme safety concern of all commuters to and from Lewis County, 2. To formally present this resolution to the Maury County Commissioners to get a Joint resolution to present to TDOT and the Legislature and 3. To help Senator Hensley and Representative Barrett escalate the issue in the 2024 legislature.
Mayor Keltner, Senator Hensley and Representative Barrett need to hear directly from commuters on this issue to help them have a solid unified community platform to make our commutes safer before near accidents and fatalities claim the lives of loved ones:
Bottom line, the legislature long ago adopted Tennessee legislation that all county seats should be connected with an equitable level of roads, I believe https://tncounties.org/TCCA/Resources/Understanding_County_Government_In_Tennessee/TCCA/Resources/Understanding_County_Government_In_TN.aspx?hkey=458c2d6c-e747-4a60-b683-bd7bae0fcec7 and Lewis County is obviously not connected well. https://www.lewisherald.com/story/2020/08/20/news/tdot-projects-412-construction-is-5-years-out/1073.html
The project for State Route 166, between State Route 6 (US 43) in Maury County and State Route 99 (US 412) in Lewis County, includes reconstruction and widening for approximately 6.5 miles. Design plans also include construction of a new interchange at SR 6. ... SR 166 is considered a rural major collector route. It connects to SR 99, providing a route between Mt. Pleasant in Maury County and the Natchez Trace Parkway and Hohenwald ...
In the State DOT region 3 State Road Project for 166 is not even mentioned https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/region-3.html, and that should be enough to get Senator Hensley to prioritize his legislative agenda for 2024.
Respectfully,
Kurt Kristensen, Ma. Ed
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