Vehicles on Fairfield Pike were backed up Monday at the intersection of North Main Street and Colloredo Boulevard, where work is to start in the next four to six weeks to widen the bottlenecked section that has given Shelbyville motorists headaches for years. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge]

Wright Paving Contractors, Inc. was awarded the contract for work to be done at the intersection of Colloredo Boulevard and Fairfield Pike with a low bid of $260,626.

This phase of the project will run from Cedar Street, south of Colloredo, to Chockley Street, north of Colloredo.

According to Ronnie Porter, transportation manager for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), the construction costs, based on estimated quantities, is $286,689, including the low bid plus 10 percent for engineering and contingencies.

The cost of this section of the project is financed with federal and state funds.

Tommy Wright told the T-G Monday that he expected work on the intersection to begin within the next four to six weeks after paperwork is completed and a pre-construction meeting with TDOT officials takes place.

Wright expected this phase of the widening project to be done by sometime in December, but added the project "won't take that long."

"The biggest problem we are going to have is signalization," Wright said. He added that they are planning on doing much of the milling and paving work at night to keep the aggravation to the public at an absolute minimum.

"We want to make this easier on everybody."

Wright added his firm intends to keep four lanes of traffic open to lessen commuting headaches.

In January of 2007, the city council approved the agreement for a survey and roadway design for the widening of North Main, which is to be done by the design firm of Gresham, Smith and Partners for a cost of $358,000.

According to the firm, it is intended that the widening be completed on the eastern boundary of the road and handicap ramps on the western side of the road will also be updated in the project.

In August of last year, City Manager Ed Craig said that the city had only spent $25,000 so far on the engineering phase.

Intersection improvements will include design of the signal and road work to allow for exclusive left-turn lanes on North Main. Also, preliminary intersection studies will be completed using traffic figures provided by the city to analyze levels of service for the design.

TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely told the city of the approval of the widening project in September of 2005. TDOT funding for phase one, which would create five lanes on the section from the intersection of Colloredo Boulevard north to the widened section in front of Kroger, would be about $500,000.

Phase two would widen the remaining roadway from U.S. 41-A (Madison Street) to the existing five lanes near Moreland Avenue and the southern entrance to Lowe's by putting in a center lane.

Shelbyville is to fund the engineering phase with local dollars and will commit a maximum of $500,000 from the city's allocation of federal Surface Transportation Project (STP) funds. TDOT will be responsible for all costs of the right-of-way and construction on both phases that exceed the half million in STP money.

The cost of TDOT's part of the North Main project is estimated to be $5 million, which includes environmental approval, additional right of way acquisition and utility relocation.