Road projects tileCLEVELAND, Tenn. -- The city will add 2-foot shoulders on each side of Michigan Avenue Road to address safety concerns, officials said.
Residents are worried about traffic safety now that Whirlpool is moving into the neighborhood. They also are concerned with dump trucks using the road to get to construction projects, including the new city airport.
"I guess I am a spokesman for our community," Linda Hyman recently told the Cleveland City Council. "I do realize they have rerouted the dump trucks, and I appreciate that. But the roads are going to have to be fixed."
The truck companies rerouted voluntarily.
The area was annexed into the city just four weeks ago, Mayor Tom Rowland said, and the city is concerned, too.
Tommy Myers, the city's public works director, said work on the shoulders will begin in about two weeks, weather permitting. The city does not have the right of way to widen farther, he said.
"Then we will come back and pave that section of the road," he said.
The project will extend from Benton Pike to Stuart Road, Myers said.
A long-range report will show where other improvements, such as turn lanes, are needed, he said.