Rhea County officials said heavy trucks going to the landfill have damaged Smyrna Lane so much that it will cost $1.58 million to fix it.
Officials said the operators of the landfill have agreed to pay half of that cost.
Rhea County Road Superintendent Glenn Varner said the $1.58 million is the early estimate of repairing and paving the road from Highway 27 to Highway 302.
He said that the high cost is due to doing this correct the first time.
“We could go and just pave it, but we would have to go back in a couple of years and pave it again,” he told members of the Rhea County Commission.
Commission Chairman Jim Vincent agreed, stating that just standard paving will not work.
It would just have to be done over.
County Commissioner Bill Hollin raised the question of just how much is being made from the landfill which is on Smyrna Road and the reason for the heavy truck traffic that has created problems on the roadway.
He said, “I get calls just about every day of a large number of trucks going up and down Highway 27 to the landfill. I followed a truck from McMinnville the other day that came right to the landfill."
County Executive George Thacker said the county has conducted a traffic study on the number of trucks that come in and out of the landfill and officials have talked with Santek Waste Services, which leases the 56 acres from Rhea County.
“We have negotiated with Santek and they have agreed to pay half of the cost of the repair of the roadway,” said County Executive Thacker. Santek is now a part of Republic Services.
The commission also discussed the damage done to Rocky Springs Road by General Shale as well.