G’town nixes McVay Road project
Other road work planned
The city of Germantown has canceled plans to replace a bridge and reconstruct a curved section of McVay Road to ease a sharp turn.
Residents along the curve complained last year that the project, with the exception of the bridge replacement, was unnecessary. A few dozen people showed up at Planning Commission and Board of Mayor and Aldermen meetings to voice concern that smoothing out a 90-degree turn in the road would encourage people to speed through the area.
They also raised concerns about the new section of the roadway cutting into an undeveloped natural area, harming both the environment and the aesthetics of the area.
The plan came about due to a need to replace the bridge, which will cost about $1 million. In order to get federal funding for the project, it had to be expanded to fit specific federal guidelines, and became an entire road realignment project.
Despite being more than 50 years old and rated as being in “fair” or “poor” condition several times, “It’s safe to drive on,” City Administrator
Patrick Lawton said. He said it will receive extensive maintenance to make sure it stays that way, but is no longer on the list to be replaced.
Lawton said the plan is to take the roughly $1.5 million in funds that were designated for that project and reallocate them to a milling and paving project on Wolf River Boulevard. Because the plan included federal funding, however, it has to be approved by the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which allocates the funds locally.
The Wolf River project would be the second section of the roadway to be on the fiscal year 2016 list for capital improvement projects.
The aldermen this week reviewed a list of 19 projects totaling $11,425,000 that are expected to be completed next fiscal year. Some are entire construction projects and some are design and engineering work for projects to be completed in future years.
Lawton said the McVay Road project, which has been put off every year for about the last decade, is not as essential as the Wolf River milling and paving, which would reconstruct the roadway from Farmington Road east to Houston High School.
The protests from the residents “certainly made the decision easier,” he said. About $70,000 had been spent on the engineering work for the project, Lawton said, but only $20,000 was city money.
The other section of Wolf River on the capital improvement list is a shorter stretch from Germantown Road east to Kimbrough Road. That would bring the remaining stretches of Wolf River that are east of Germantown Road up to par with the new section of roadway connecting Kimbrough and Farmington.
Also on the capital improvement list for next fiscal year is the final design stage of a project to realign Germantown Road in the Old Germantown neighborhood. The project was part of the city’s Smart Growth plan in 2007 that looked for a way for traffic to flow more easily through town.
Germantown Road currently dead-ends into Poplar Pike. Drivers traveling south have to make a right on Poplar Pike and then another left to continue south on Germantown Road. The project would eliminate those turns and make one continuous Germantown Road. It also would make West Street, which runs parallel to Germantown Road, more pedestrian-friendly.
Alderman John Barzizza, who in his election campaign last year spoke out against the project, said in a meeting Wednesday he still has concerns. He said businesses in the area are concerned it will make traffic worse instead of better.
“I think the entire project needs a new look,” Barzizza said. “As it stands right now, I certainly couldn’t vote for it.”
Lawton said the city will move forward with the final planning but that he will call for a special work session to review the project before it would go to a vote. Construction would not start until at least fiscal year 2017, he said.