By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen has unanimously adopted a resolution to apply for Transportation Improvement Program funding from the Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization. Board members took the action during their Jan. 11 regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman Thomas McGhee and seconded by Alderman Bethany Huffman. The resolution states that the MMPO is currently accepting applications for the TIP funding for the 2017-2020 fiscal years. It notes that Millington is planning several projects that will “benefit greatly” from those funds. They include the following repaving projects: (1) Sykes Road from Highway 51 to Raleigh-Millington Road (2) Big Creek Church Road from Highway 51 to Juana Drive (3) Quito Road from Bennett Wood Drive to Carter Road (4) Bennett Wood Drive from Quito Road to Hickory Meadow Road (5) Hickory Meadow Road from Bennett Wood Drive to Babe Howard Avenue (6) Babe Howard Avenue from Hickory Meadow Road to Highway 51 (7) West Union Road from Wilkinsville Road to Royster Creek Another project is the construction phase for replacement of the bridge on Raleigh-Millington Road over Big Creek. The board has unanimously approved Smith, Seckman, Reid Inc. as the engineering consultant for that project at a lump-sum rate not to exceed $366,700. Because Millington has entered into a Local Agency Project Agreement with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, 80 percent of the contract price will be provided by TDOT. The contract includes the “environmental testing” as well as the design of the project. The funding applications also include the following roadway construction projects: (1) Phase II of the Navy Road Streetscape from Highway 51 to Easley Street (2) new traffic signals and a southbound turn lane on Church Street at Navy Road (3) extension of Wilkinsville Road from Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse to Veterans Parkway The second project involves adding a right-turn lane, some drainage improvements and new traffic signals on the southbound section of Church Street north of Navy Road. The signals will be the new, black “mast-arm poles” like the ones currently installed on Veterans Parkway. In response to a question by Huffman, City Engineer Jason Dixon said Wilkinsville Road will be extended “around” Lowe’s to Veterans Parkway and will not cross the Canadian National Railroad tracks. He also said Phase I of the Navy Road Streetscape project involved construction of the “traffic islands” and most of the “landscape portion.”
Dixon noted that Phase II will make “connections” between those points by providing handicapped access from Highway 51 to Veterans Parkway and adding “mast-arms” at the intersection of Nelson and Navy roads, as well as the intersection of Easley Street and Navy.
