Simpson Road project planning un

Construction on Simpson Road East appears closer now after years of work by Lenoir City officials.

A pre-construction planning meeting was held Aug. 18 at the Lenoir City Municipal Meeting to discuss the improvement project, which goes from U.S. Highway 321 to Shaw Ferry Road.

Plans include widening the road from 18 feet to 26 feet, adding a sidewalk opposite First Baptist Church and fixing a hill coming from Shaw Ferry Road. Work is afforded through an 80-20 split through the Tennessee Department of Transportation Local Programs Surface Transportation Program funding.

The meeting was hosted by David Sparks, Cannon & Cannon Inc. project manager, with the help of Lenoir City Administrator Amber Scott for all utilities, construction and engineering firms involved with the project.

A point of tension during the meeting occurred when Lenoir City Utilities Board electric department representative Andrew McDaniel and Fulghum, McIndoe & Associates Inc., representative Adam Duncan gave an update.

“I can speak for LCUB electric has not relocated at this time,” Duncan said. “The hold up on that right now has been negotiating the easement with Home Depot. … They’ve just been very slow to respond, so we’ve been dealing with that. I think we’re going on six months or something, trying to get that nailed down. Once that is cleared, everything else is good to go.”

An easement is required because some of the light poles that need to be relocated for the project are located in Home Depot’s property. Waiting for Home Depot’s legal department to sign the easement could set back the initial start date of Sept. 8.

Duncan asked Scott if she had a responsive contact at Home Depot because the contact LCUB was using was not responding.

McDaniel reported the electric work at the Shaw Ferry Road side of the project can probably be done by Sept. 8, but the rest will most likely occur later. Because the project is rushed, he said more than one crew will be working on it.

Mark McKinnon, McKinnon Construction owner, asked Duncan how long he’s been working on the easement with Home Depot. Duncan said he wasn’t sure.

McKinnon said there was a job schedule of when crews needed to move the poles, but Duncan defended LCUB saying it didn’t have a start date for the project.

“It’s been on for probably two or three years,” McKinnon said. “I’m saying once you had problems with Home Depot, could the city not have helped you if you told them you couldn’t move the poles for the job?”

Sewer and gas relocation are complete for the project, Sparks said.

Detours were discussed as the road is often used as a cut-through. There were many options for detours and road closures, so Sparks tabled the decision until a later date.

Scott on Monday said the issue with Home Depot had been resolved after she gave her contact to Duncan and work should begin shortly. LCUB started working on moving three of the poles on Home Depot’s property at the end of last week.

“Thankfully, the project won’t be as behind schedule as we thought it was,” Scott said.