A survey of Cookeville’s street-conditions is taking place over the next few months. The survey is part of a larger street resurfacing and restriping plan currently being developed by the City. According to city officials, the survey will begin either late this week or early next week. The overall street resurfacing plan should be completed by fall of this year.
During the survey, employees from Gresham Smith will inventory approximately 125 miles of Cookeville’s local streets. Each street will be graded as either good, fair, or poor. The remaining miles of city streets will be surveyed and inventoried by City of Cookeville staff.
Residents can expect to see Gresham Smith employees working along city streets for the next few months. Workers will be easily identified by their safety vests which will have “Gresham Smith” printed along the back.
The street resurfacing and restriping plan was made possible by a Community Transportation Planning Grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). Gresham Smith, the firm selected by TDOT for the project, will coordinate with the City to complete the plan.
According to James Mills, Cookeville City Manager, the City has been diligent in its efforts to improve city streets. “Since fiscal year 2020, the City’s annual paving budget has increased by $1 million,“ says Mills. “The current budget for street paving is triple what it was before 2020.”
Once completed, the plan will help the City decide how to best allocate the annual paving budget over the next few years. It will combine the results of the street survey with Average Daily Traffic (ADT) data to establish street resurfacing priorities. When the City begins street resurfacing in the fall, streets with the highest priority will be repaved and restriped first.
Updates on the street resurfacing and restriping plan will be posted to the City of Cookeville website at cookeville-tn.gov.