Information from WYSH Radio

Following up on a story we first brought you last year, the state is still in the planning stages of making safety improvements to an 11-mile stretch of Highway 116 in Anderson County from Frost Bottom to the Campbell County line.

A safety audit conducted in 2012 by state and local officials showed that in some spots, lanes are too narrow, in others there are no guardrails, and in still other areas, the shoulder is actually less than a foot wide. Slope stability issues were also blamed for some cracking and uneven settling of the pavement. Some spots that have been resurfaced do not have pavement markings and in other areas, rock outcroppings and other hazards are “too close to the roadway for comfort.”

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has recommended paving the entire stretch of Highway 116, widening the shoulders in some places, and adding guardrails, pavement markings, and signage to the roadway as part of the effort to make the road safer. TDOT says that it will also reduce the speed limit on that sometimes-dangerous stretch of road to 35 miles per hour. [Read more…]