Tracy, TDOT praised for quick work on road

A crew from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) was busy Thursday adding an extra lane to Bell Buckle - Wartrace Road, also known as State Highway 269, to address traffic and safety concerns in front of Cascade School.
(T-G Photo by Brian Mosely)

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And Bedford County School Superintendent Ed Gray says it's all thanks to the efforts of State Sen. Jim Tracy and officials with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), who rushed the project through.

Parents and local residents have recently expressed concern about the safety situation at the school, with traffic frequently blocked in the afternoons by parents parked on both sides of Bell Buckle - Wartrace Road, also known as State Highway 269, to pick up their children.

A large road crew from TDOT was spotted hard at work Thursday constructing a new lane that will enable motorists to avoid a traffic jam during the time that school begins and ends.

The expedited work was brought about due to the efforts of Tracy and signed off on by TDOT Assistant Commissioner Paul Diggs, Gray said Friday.

"With Sen. Tracy, they got on it quicker then we ever thought they would," Gray said.

Gray estimated that work should be finished on the new lane by the beginning of this week and said it has been the afternoon traffic that has been causing problems and clogging the road.

"One of the things is that we have parents that get there an hour to an hour and a half before pick up time in the afternoons," Gray observed. "They sit reading a book or a magazine. They just wait."

Gray mentioned that the same situation with the waiting parents exists at Southside School as well. He said he did not downgrade the practice, but said it was the nature of parents picking up their kids from school.

Gray added that the school system is also continuing to work with TDOT to address traffic and safety issues at Community School in Unionville. While a proposal has yet to be submitted to TDOT, Gray stated that survey work in the area needed to be completed first. Since U.S. 41-A is a federally-funded state highway, the school system must have TDOT approval for any work to be done, Gray said.