Work will begin this summer north of Wartrace on water lines that should improve pressure for those rural residents, that town's board learned Tuesday.

Mayor Don Gallagher explained that county mayor Eugene Ray has applied for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for water line extensions in Flat Creek.

The Flat Creek portion of the project would cost $250,000. Gallagher said that Ray knew Wartrace was interested in running a water line down Highway 269 and Cortner Road, so Gallagher asked Ray that Wartrace "tailgate" on the grant application since the full amount would not be used on the Flat Creek project.

The total project has a cost of $700,000, which includes $200,000 in local funds. The grant funds were provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and were allocated under a procedure authorized by the Tennessee General Assembly.

The grants were approved by the Economic and Community Development Loan and Grant Committee following an application by each county. The awarding of the grant was announced in December 2007.

The work will not only help with new customers, but also existing ones, Gallagher explained. Wartrace's eight-inch water line terminates north of the intersection of Bugscuffle Road and Highway 269.

"In 1987, there was a two-inch line that ran down Cortner Road and several people tapped on to that over the years, so they are experiencing bad pressure problems," Gallagher said. Part of the project will entail replacing the two-inch line with one eight inches in diameter.

"Those existing customers will get good water pressure and the line will run down Highway 269 as far as the $250,000 will take us," the mayor said. But the line would not be able to come back all the way to Wartrace, Gallagher noted.

The line extension should end at the bridge on Highway 269 at the intersection of 16th Model Road,

Jimmy Highers, of Highers and Koonce Engineering, briefed Wartrace's board of mayor and aldermen about the plans Tuesday. Highers is working with Bedford County and Bedford County Utility District on both the Flat Creek and Wartrace projects.

The only thing that remains are for the plans to gain state approval, Gallagher said.