Two mayors send letter about roads to TDOT

JACKSON, Tenn. — The mayor of Jackson has reached out to state legislatures about the road conditions in Jackson.

Friday, Mayor Scott Conger and Mayor Jim Strickland joined together to send an email to the Tennessee Department of Transportation about road conditions in West Tennessee.

Conger says the reason for the email was the request of equitable funds across the state of Tennessee.

“Mayor Strickland and I sent a letter to, joint letter to TDOT last week just informing or requesting some equitable distribution of funds across the state,” Conger said.

The mayor says that they have reached out multiple times to TDOT about the road conditions in Jackson, and they still have not received any maintenance. With the arrival of Blue Oval in 2025, he hopes that the condition of the roads will improve before its opening.

“You know our MPOs have done studies, we’ve reached out, it’s kind of been anecdotal over the last couple of years. You know how these roads need to be done. For example, North Parkway here has been pushed three times for the repaving cycle, and so we’re just asking, you know, as Blue Oval coming in and scheduled to be in production in 2025, we need our state highway miles. At least equitable to the rest of the state,” Conger said.

In the email, Conger noted that the Metropolitan Planning Organizations in both Memphis and Jackson said that the roads were not up to the standards of the rest of the state.

Specifically, there was a disparity between the amount of attention West Tennessee roads receive versus Middle and East Tennessee roads.

“I think the disparity, I mean the numbers like I say, they say it all. I mean 439 miles in one region and and then 45 miles in three other regions combined shows a disparity in the investment,” Conger said.

Conger hopes that with this letter they will receive a response and will inspire change in TDOT so West Tennessee can receive equity in the funds given from the state.

“I think we hope for a response. I can say our local guys with TDOT are great. They’re very responsive, they are constrained by what they’re allowed to do,” Conger said. “We hope to at least get some equity in the distribution of the funds and repaving.”

At the moment, it is unknown if TDOT has responded to the letter.

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