John Coffelt, Editor

Coffee County Mayor Dennis Hunt briefed Budget and Finance Committee members during the Dec. 17 meeting about a potential Tennessee Department of Transportation grant that would provide significant upgrades to the traffic light in Hillsboro.

“Everybody needs to realize the traffic light in Hillsboro is totally maintained by Coffee County taxpayers,” Hunt said.

He said that federal funds are being allocated, however, through the state to modernize rural traffic signals. The plans for Hillsboro will include galvanized poles with cross arms on the corners.

“There will be radar-style traffic detection so the loops in the road will never be a problem if they grind or resurface the roads,” Hunt said. “It’s a pretty significate upgrade.”

Hunt said that he had started the process with the Chattanooga TDOT office to get the light replaced with a four-way stop similar to the ones on Highway 41 in Pelham and Highway 53 and 280 approaching Woodbury when he got word of the grant from the TDOT Signalization Department in Nashville.

Hunt said that agency had performed traffic studies in Hillsboro and had earmarked Coffee County for a $500,000 no-match grant.      

Hunt told Budget and Finance that during a recent meeting with TDOT personnel, the state told him that they did not know how the intersection ever got a traffic light because it doesn’t meet the criteria for a traffic light.

Hunt estimated the project taking over a year.    

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.