Highway 99 Update

Long awaited improvements to Highway 99 between Concord and Eagleville could get underway by early next year, according to state transportation officials.

The 4.6-mile project is scheduled to be let to construction in December, B.J. Doughty, a Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) spokesman, said.

"Once a project is let to construction, it is usually six to eight weeks before the contractor will actually begin work," she said.

During that time, a contract is drawn up and executed and usually one or more pre-construction meetings between TDOT and the contractor are held.

TDOT still does not have two of the necessary environmental permits but officials expect to have them by November.

"The wetlands mitigation process has been resolved, and TDOT has conveyed our plans to the Army Corps of Engineers and to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and we are awaiting these two permits to move forward with the project," Doughty said.

Both the Corps and TDEC are required by law to have a 30-day comment period on the proposed project before issuing the permits. The Corps’ comment period ended Aug. 1 and TDEC’s comment period will end Oct. 19.

TDEC posted signs on utility poles last week on Highway 99 across from the Eagleville Post Office and further down toward Concord asking for public input concerning possible impacts to water quality.

The Highway 99 roadwork will disturb about 4.23 acres of wetlands which TDOT is having to replace at a 2 to 1 ratio in the Harpeth Wetland Mitigation Bank. The wetland bank property is located on the north side of Highway 99 in the North Road to Ditch Lane area.

The road reconstruction is also expected to have some impacts on Kelley Creek, Puckett Branch and seven unnamed streams.

The springhead of the Harpeth River is located about 125 feet north on the opposite side of one of the wetlands but the construction plans show no disturbance to the spring or the trees surrounding it.

The improvements to the 4.6 mile segment of Highway 99 call for widening the existing roadway to two 12-foot lanes with eight-foot shoulders. Six feet of the shoulders will be paved.

Turning lanes will be built at Swamp Road, Claxton Road, Mount Vernon Road, North Lane, Mount Pleasant Road and Ditch Lane.

The updated roadway will follow the existing Highway 99 route from the Concord area to about Swamp Road with some curves being straightened out along the way.

The road will turn south near Swamp Road on a totally new roadbed and will run across the fields and will pass Eagleville School on the south side. The new section will tie into U.S. 41-A just south of Holt Specialty Equipment Co.

The old Highway 99 into downtown Eagleville will remain the same and a ramp will be built west of Swamp Road to tie the new section into the current road.

Highway officials have predicted it will take about two summers to complete the improvements and estimate the cost could amount to about $3 million a mile.

The Highway 99 upgrade from Murfreesboro to Eagleville has been in the works for about 14 or 15 years. The part from Murfreesboro to Concord was completed about a decade ago.

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