By Michelle Price
Special to the UCBJ
UPPER CUMBERLAND – There’s a lawsuit in the works over the collapse of a local roadway that is testing the patience of local residents in the area. North Quinland Lake Road has partially collapsed at least two times previously during times of extreme weather, most notably in 2010 and 2017.
The county road supervisor says that there is an engineer looking into solutions for the situation, but neither the road supervisor nor the county executive can estimate when the road will be repaired and ready for traffic again.
The county attorney has said that he is not able to comment on ongoing litigation which appears to be with the estate of Fred Brown, whose lake is adjacent to the road and is apparently causing the road to washout.
“I don’t know who is at fault here. I don’t know how long the lawsuit is going to take to resolve the matter, but someone needs to get this road fixed, and they need to do it sooner rather than later,” commented a local resident in the area who doesn’t want to be named because he knows both parties involved.
When will the issue be resolved? At this point, no one knows, but residents are wanting an answer soon.
While this county road remains closed, Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has been hard at work restoring traffic to two roads in Jackson and White counties that were made impassable by the recent storms.
SR-262 in Jackson Co is reduced to one lane with temporary traffic signals from LM 7.9 to LM 8.6 until further notice. due to slope/shoulder failure.
In White County, Hwy 135 (Burgess Falls Road) at Milk Plant Road, approximately two miles from Hwy 111, is now back open after the road falling out. The road is reduced to one lane, and a temporary traffic signal has been installed to control the flow of traffic until repairs can be made.
