Room for cars, but no turn lane: Why that happens on Rossview Road, Ted Crozier Boulevard

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Clarksville residents have questions about the lack of turn lanes in certain parts of the city, particularly on Rossview Road and on Ted Crozier Boulevard. The Clarksville Street Department has shared details on both, but also two other projects.

While there appears to be enough room for a right-turn lane on Rossview in front of the Rossview schools campus, no such lane exists. The same is true for Ted Crozier, turning right onto Dunlop Lane. If there appears to be plenty of room for a turn lane in both areas, why aren’t they striped that way?

The Clarksville Street Department has an explanation.

Rossview Road

The widening of Rossview Road began in 2014. The project featured a plan to widen the highway to five lanes from west of Interstate 24 to east of International Boulevard. Phase I of the project stopped in front of the Rossview schools. The city, which is managing the project, had hoped to move directly into Phase 2, which would include that turn lane. However, that didn’t happen due to a delay in TDOT approval, according to city Street Department Senior Engineering Manager Chris Cowan.

“Right now, we have acquired all the rights of way necessary to do not only this widening, but also the realignment of Dunbar Cave Road. The state has to give us authorization to move to the next phase,” Cowan said. “We’re waiting for that approval.”

Phase 2 would eliminate a ditch on the other side of the road, and until that ditch is removed, TDOT has denied the striping of a right turn lane in front of the schools.

“When we had this project and built that, we actually had that as a right turn lane. TDOT took a look at that, and it was very concerning from a safety standpoint on their end. They talked with the Clarksville Police Department and they agreed with them,” Cowan said. “They were concerned that in the middle of the night or when it’s raining, perhaps, someone in that lane wouldn’t realize they had to turn and hit that ditch.”

Since there is a gap in construction, some changes have had to be made to the original layout.

“They (TDOT) required that we modify our designs and actually start that taper farther back.” Cowan said. “Because they’re paying, we had to allow for that.”

Cowan also noted that adding the right turn lane would make the highway a total of three lanes. Therefore, Phase 2 will see the addition of a two-way left-turn lane from the end of the school to Keysburg Road. Realignment of Dunbar Cave Road will also begin during the next phase of the project. Cowan said they hope to have things under construction by next spring.

Ted Crozier Boulevard

As you turn right from Ted Crozier onto Dunlop, it looks as though there is enough room for a right-turn lane on the shoulder. In fact, many people have been using the shoulder as a right-turn lane. One might assume that you could simply stripe the shoulder to make it legal, but that is not the case, Cowan said.

“Everybody has been taking the shoulder and using that as a de facto right turn lane, but really it’s a shoulder, and you’re not supposed to do that, because it doesn’t have enough thickness of asphalt to really support people doing that all the time.”

While the shoulder cannot simply be striped into another lane, Cowan said there are plans to take up the old asphalt, widen the road, and add a right turn lane.

“We came up with an intersection improvement project,” Cowan said. “We’re going to go ahead and widen this road out and give us an exclusive right turn lane so that people can make that maneuver through there.”

There will also be improvements on the other side of the road.

“In addition, coming from the other side (onto Dunlop), you’ll notice right now there are two through lanes and one left (turn lane). We are actually widening this so I can get two left-turn lanes and turn and go towards the hospital.”

Packaged road projects

The city continues to plan for current and upcoming projects, which include road work around new housing developments. Cowan told Clarksville Now that work on Ted Crozier will be combined with two other improvement projects,

“We have decided to combine that project with two other intersection or roadway improvement projects and to hire one contractor to do all three of these projects,” Cowan said.

The second project is construction on Tiny Town Road by Allen Road. Crews will improve that intersection thanks to some right of way donated to the city by the developer of a nearby housing project.

The third project will be on Fire Station Road at Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. The plan for this project is to widen the road into three lanes and have a continuous two-way left-turn lane. According to Cowan, this will make it easier for motorists to enter and exit all of the new businesses and apartments along that stretch. This project will also see the addition of sidewalks on both sides of the highway.

Engineers are working on a few loose ends but plan to bid out this multi-project package in October.