“First, I want to welcome everyone to this important meeting. It’s always great when citizens turn out and respond to our call for suggestions and input about topics that affect their day-to-day lives.
Over my time as Mayor, I have made improving Clarksville’s roads a top priority.
As we all know, traffic is heavy in the high-growth Northeast section of our City. We need more arterial connector roads to meet the traffic demands of today and in the future.
The Northeast Connector is a proposed new roadway from Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, our most heavily commercialized thoroughfare, to Trenton Road, which serves an area with high-density residential development. The City of Clarksville is taking the lead in designing and developing the project. The road’s purpose is to relieve traffic congestion on several roads, including Trenton Road, Interstate 24 interchanges at Exit 1 and Exit 4, and on Needmore Road and the 101st Airborne Parkway.
Improvements to a stretch of Trenton Road, which is State Route 48, from Kennedy Road to Tiny Town Road are also being studied as part of a comprehensive approach to improving traffic flow in Northeast Clarksville.
Tonight you will hear from City Traffic Engineer Chris Cowan, and Jonathon Haycraft, with our project consultants — Gresham, Smith & Partners.
The good news is with the McMillan Administration’s leadership, the City is investing in new roads, and strategically solving transportation problems. You will hear about our preliminary engineering and environmental study, which will help us decide the best location for the connector. All of this is required because the city and state will also seek federal financial support for this work.
Obviously, the research and preliminary design work is ongoing and no final decisions have been made, but we want to take this opportunity to show our work so far and hear from the motorists who would use the connector. This is your opportunity to review and comment as the City of Clarksville Street Department, our consultants and TDOT consider options to move traffic through this area in the most efficient and safest manner.
Your comments tonight are appreciated: You can fill out a comment card and leave it with us; you can speak with someone who will take your comments; or you can return the comment form by mail. We also will post the comment form on the city’s website – www.cityofclarksville.com – where you can complete it and submit it electronically.
Thank you for your time and your interest in making Clarksville a better place to live, work and raise our families. Have a good meeting and a great rest of the week.”
– Kim McMillan, Mayor of Clarksville