TDOT projects 412 construction is 5 years out

The final leg of a 51 mile long County Seat Connector highway project for Lewis County faces multiple delays at a high cost.

Significant environmental issues of the 6.56 mile stretch of State Route 166 between Lewis and Maury Counties have delayed development of the project. Springs and seeps in the rocky terrain between the county line and Mount Pleasant are necessitating substantial stream mitigation, a process estimated to postpone road construction two or more years.

Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Commisisoner Clay Bright, in a letter to Lewis County Clerk Sandra Clayton, noted 1995 legislation was intended to connect all Tennessee county seats by four lane highways “to the nearest interstate highway by the best route available.”

The letter was written in response to Lewis County Commissioners requesting and supporting construction funding by resolution in May 2020.

“No additional funding was provided to TDOT to implement the program, nor was there any time frame proposed,” Bright wrote. “We anticipate this last section to cost between $80 and $90 million.”

“Today, 68 county seats are connected to the interstate via a four-lane highway,” the letter continued. An additional 18 have work underway or have alternate access to an interstate and eight have no work underway currently.

A cost estimate of $3.5 billion is anticipated to connect the remaining county seats in Tennessee.

The final section of State Route 412, that will connect Lewis County to four-lane Highway 43 at Mount Pleasant, will be in Maury County. “The department is moving forward on the development of the project and expect it to be delivered to construction in the next three to five years or so, if our funding remains at its current levels,” Commissioner Bright continued.

Connecting Hohenwald to I-65 is a project to be completed with new funding provided by the IMPROVE Act.