Bypass work blocks roads

Progress is continuing on the Shelbyville bypass, State Route 437, but a spokesperson from Tennessee Department of Transportation says that a second road closure is planned.

TDOT Community Relations Officer B.J. Doughty told the Times-Gazette that Fairfield Pike will remain closed for the next few months as material hauling along that route continues.

That road was closed last November so that workers could install a box culvert in the affected area, which has required it to be completely dug out. Melissa Cannon, TDOT project supervisor for the bypass project said in November that Fairfield Pike would have its alignment changed as well.

Also, a large amount of fill material and paving is being done at the site, although the paving is not scheduled to begin until spring.

"We are hoping to reopen it sometime this summer," Doughty said. "However, wet weather can slow these operations."

Doughty also stated that the Horse Mountain/Philippi Road intersection will close in the future, "but we are still quite a ways away on that," she said.

"It's impossible right now to pinpoint a time for that closure since it is dependent on the progression of the other work," Doughty said.

Work crews are also busy driving pilings for the west abutment of the bridge on U.S. 231 North.

"Grading operations are also continuing on that end of the project, as well as utility relocation," Doughty said.

On the other end of the project is a section between U.S. 41-A South and Wartrace Pike (State Highway 64 East) that is graded and ready for base stone, "but we are waiting on the weather to improve," she added.

The entire project is estimated to be completed by July 31, 2011.

The bid of $14,283,873 for the bypass was awarded last June to Wright Paving Contractors Inc. of Fayetteville and is one of 119 road projects in 64 counties throughout Tennessee funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Grading work on the bypass began off U.S. 41-A South in last September, with the new state route to consist of two 12-foot traffic lanes with two 12-foot shoulders.

The bypass will wrap around the city's northeastern quadrant from U.S. 231 north of Shelbyville to U.S. 41-A on the east side, and will include intersections at Fairfield Pike, Horse Mountain Road, Philippi Road, Earl Smith Road, Mullins Chapel Road, Fay Creek Road, Fowler Lane, Wartrace Pike and 41-A South.

Original plans for the bypass also called for a northwestern loop as well, but it's not clear when or if that will be built.

That proposed loop would start at U.S. 231 and curve southwest to State Highway 64 west of Shelbyville, but according to TDOT's web site, this section "is currently not funded for development."