Mayor Conger talks road repair progress in Jackson, next steps

JACKSON, Tenn. — The City of Jackson is chipping away at road repairs.

In March, we showed a section of Hollywood Drive badly in need of repair. Now, it’s completely repaved.

That’s one of the 33 roads the City of Jackson was able to repave before the fiscal year ended in July.

They still have an entire list, with more than 100 streets left to repave.

“We have 20 or so streets we plan on doing this year, just because we don’t have the funds to keep up with the plan to do 20% of the Priority 1 and 2 streets over the next four years,” Mayor Scott Conger said.

There is one road that’s proving to be more difficult than the rest: Airways Boulevard.

Mayor Conger said there’s actually a layer of concrete under the asphalt. When they tear it up, they have to tear up the entire thing, which will cost millions of dollars.

“Friday, we’re applying for a Transportation Alternative Grant. That’ll help us redo the entire corridor, do it in four phases,” Conger said. “Phase 1 will cost around $3.5 million dollars. It’s an 80/20 match, so it’ll cost us about $600,000 to $700,000 to do that first phase.”

Conger said they’ve had savings through different cuts made in the city, and because of a 2019 law that changed how sales tax is taken, that’s actually up 5.8% compared to last year.

Still, they’re having to seriously prioritize what improvements they make.

“Our resources are finite,” Conger said. “We have to make a strategic plan for how we’re going to get to those priority 1 and 2 streets, and how we’re going to get on a repaving plan as opposed to picking streets every year over what we’re going to do.”

Conger also said the city’s new pothole repair machine is coming in this week.

If you see something that needs to be repaired, like a pothole in the city, you can click here to visit the City of Jackson’s interactive online portal.