By Ben Benton
Chattanooga Times Free Press
PIKEVILLE, Tenn. — Utility work on the long-delayed, $157 million prison expansion project in Bledsoe County could begin by early summer, officials said.
Design, bidding and construction of water, sewer and electrical supplies at the Southeastern Tennessee State Regional Correctional Facility prison are the next step, said state House Rep. Bill Harmon, D-Dunlap.
The project is a 1,444-bed addition that will be adjacent to the current prison, said Rep. Harmon, who is chairman of the Corrections Oversight Committee in the General Assembly.
“I think they’re in the process of design now,” Rep. Harmon said Monday. Final designs for the utilities should be submitted in March, with construction on water, sewer and electrical systems starting as soon as July.
The addition is slated for completion by 2011, but Rep. Harmon said there’s no official timeline for the project.
Bledsoe County Mayor Gregg Ridley said he hopes the delays are over.
“This has been on and off again for the last five years. I am certainly glad to see the governor’s moving forward with the prison expansion,” Mr. Ridley said.
“Bringing new jobs to the region is certainly a priority,” he said.
The expansion should mean 200 or more permanent jobs, and there are jobs from the construction project itself, Mr. Ridley said.
“They’re saying 300 to 400 jobs during the construction period,” he said.
The expansion at the mountaintop prison originally was set to begin in 2005.
The standalone facility on the “potato field” property near the current prison was recommended by a task force from the state Department of Correction, the Department of Finance and Administration and a consulting firm.
Utility improvements will help the county at large, said state Rep. Eric H. Swafford. They will include a new water link to the eastern side of Walden’s Ridge.
“The utility expansion will be a huge asset for all of Bledsoe County, not just the prison,” said Rep. Swafford, adding that the project also should stimulate the local economy.
Copyright 2009 Chattanooga Publishing Company