Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville Street Department will host a public meeting on development plans and improvements designated for Memorial Drive and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Parkway (State Highway 76 Connector), at the end of this month.
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 31st, from 4:30pm-6:00pm at Richview Middle School, 2350 Memorial Drive.
The project, a component of the Mayor’s 2020+ Transportation Plan, is being designed to improve safety and traffic capacity on these roads.
“This is an opportunity for the residents along this road to see first-hand the improvements we will make as part of the Transportation 2020+ plan,” said Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts.
“We are being sensitive to the new residential development near the existing schools and will include bike lanes and sidewalks to allow students and families to get to, and from school safely,” Mayor Pitts said.
The bike lanes and sidewalks are being added to provide multimodal travel opportunities for citizens, including students in the growing neighborhood schools along Memorial Drive, added Joseph Green, senior engineer with the Clarksville Street Department.
The proposed improvements include widening Memorial Drive from Richview Road to Martin Luther King, Jr.., Parkway, from the existing two-lane road to a three-lane road with bike lanes and sidewalks along each side.
Additional improvements to Martin Luther King, Jr., Parkway are to include traffic signals at the Old Farmers Road intersection and the Memorial Drive intersection, and improved turn lanes to provide additional traffic capacity, reducing vehicle queuing in the main traffic lanes.
“The Memorial Drive connector project is vital to our community. The leadership of Mayor Joe Pitts, Chief of Staff James Halford and our Street Department Engineering group worked tirelessly on this project to bring it to this vital planning phase,” said Ihab Habib, Director of the Clarksville Street Department.
“This is the milestone when we need our citizens to voice their opinions, comment, and partake in this project,” Director Habib said.
The project is currently in the planning stages, with survey and design work scheduled to begin this Spring, and right-of-way acquisition following in the Fall of 2023.
The project, managed by the City Street Department, has a total estimated cost of approximately $26.5 million.
For more information about the project, and the January 31st public meeting, call the Clarksville Street Department at 931.645.7464.
