Posted by Jim Young
on April 17, 2006

The Crossville City Council approved several changes to traffic flow around the Cumberland County Courthouse by a narrow three to two margin that will affect how citizens drive on the east side of Main Street downtown.

The Changes include making the short section of Fourth Street beside the courthouse one way from Main Street to Thurman Avenue and reversing the one way direction of Thurman between Fourth Street and East First Street. Other changes include the removal of a turn lane on East Second Street and angle parking on one side of the street. In addition, a left turn arrow on the traffic signal from the south bound side of Main Street at Fourth St. will give drivers a chance to turn when the traffic is heavy.

The changes were suggested by Ronnie Webb who owns a building on Fourth Street at Thurman and talked to many other downtown property owners who generally agreed that the changes might help. The plan was designed to increase the number of parking spaces along fourth street by replacing parallel parking with angle parking on both sides of the street. In the process of planning the changes, the city discovered that the parking spaces around the courthouse do not currently meet the ADA standards and by bringing the parking up to federal standards, some additional spaces will be lost. The overall net gain is still half a dozen parking spaces. In addition, several new handicapped spaces will be available.

After the council approved the matter, Ronnie Webb commented that making Thurman one way for both the blocks between Fourth and First would give access to a traffic light onto Main Street. That was one of the concerns mentioned by councilman Duer as well as another downtown businessman Rob Harrison as well as Randy Graham of the city's traffic task force. Webb added that the approved changes also allow parking to be left in front of Harry Sabine's office as he requested and easier access to parking behind the Hughes Building.

“I think people will like it once they get used to it,” commented Webb.

Councilman Billy Loggins made the motion to approve the changes and yes votes included Loggins, and Councilmen Boyd Wyatt and Earl Dean. Mayor J. H. Graham and councilman Carl Duer voted against the traffic change proposal.

City Manger Jack Miller was directed to put the changes a in place as soon as feasible. Changes to traffic flow when Main Street is closed for events will have to be determined with the most likely detour moving to Webb Avenue from Thurman.

During their regular April meeting, the council approved first reading of a routine annexation and first reading of a rare deannexation.

A request for annexation was received from St. Raphael's Church on Sparta Highway to annex several acres of their property into the city limits. The action will put all 18.8 acres of the church's property inside the city limits as several acres were already annexed previously.

The city also received a written request from Mountain Farm International to remove their property at Northshore Drive and Highway 70-N from the city limits. The property totals 8.9 acres and no reason for the deannexation request was given.

Both actions were approved by the council on first reading with two additional readings required before they become final.

City Public Works Director Tim Begley shared some of the responsibilities of the city's maintenance department during the council's last meeting as part of a monthly report from one of the city's departments on what they do and how they do it. The maintenance department looks after all city vehicles and equipment, preforms basic maintenance and minor repairs on all city buildings and mows a tremendous amount of grass all around the city and Meadow Park Lake every summer.

The department consists of 14 staff with the addition of 6 to 8 part-time mowers over the summer. The city has 134 cars and trucks and another 85 pieces of equipment that the department maintains. The department mows 110 miles of road each summer on both sides in two trips for a total of 440 miles of mowing, just 30 miles short of a trip to Tallahassee Florida. Some 329 acres of mowing includes the Crossville Memorial Airport and the property around the city's water treatment plants.

Martin Elementary second grader Terra LaSalle was recognized as the student of the month for her example of fairness, April's Community Character trait. Terra's teacher, Christy Daughtery said she, “is a fine example of fairness in the way she treats other people. She takes turns, shares and plays well with others in her school.”