This week, we got some long awaited good news. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), accepted the Town of Thompson’s Station request, as part of the Statewide Partnership Program (SPP), to accelerate the Highway 31/Columbia Pike Widening Project. By partnering with TDOT, the Town was able to move preliminary engineering work on the Town’s top roadway improvement priority from 2029 to 2026.
Over the past few years, Mayor Stover has made it a priority to work directly with our state elected officials, especially Senator Johnson and Representative Reeves, members of the Greater Nashville Regional Council, and the TDOT leadership, to impress upon them the Town’s willingness to proactively address regional infrastructure issues that impact the quality of life for residents on a daily basis. With TDOT’s announcement on Monday, April 7, 2025, that investment in time and effort has paid dividends.
The 31 Widening Project has been the Town’s top roadway priority for nearly a decade through successive BOMAs. In 2019 and 2020, the BOMA, Planning Commission, and Town Staff worked collaboratively with TDOT to set the groundwork for this project with review and consideration of the cross-section for the proposed widening of 31. As part of that collaboration, we secured a cross-section that includes a landscaped median in order to better reflect the Town’s character along portions of 31. The BOMA approved the All Aboard Major Throughfare Plan in 2022, which reaffirmed that the Columbia Pike/Highway 31 Widening Project remained as the Town’s top roadway priority. In 2023, TDOT released the initial 10 Year Plan, including the 31 Widening Project, but with preliminary engineering to begin in 2029. Last November, the Town secured a meeting with the TDOT Commissioner to make the Thompson’s Station case for TDOT to accelerate the Columbia Pike Widening Project based on the negative impacts to the Town’s residents and businesses related to the increasing congestion and gridlock along the corridor.
As part of the SPP program, TDOT requires local jurisdictions to provide local funds to help accelerate the project. Late last year, the Thompson’s Station BOMA came to the consensus that $15 million in local funds would be included with the Town’s SPP proposal to partner with TDOT on accelerating this critical roadway project. With the announcement of TDOT’s updated 10 Year Plan, TDOT committed to a strong partnership with Thompson’s Station and brought the Town’s long-standing goal of fixing Columbia Pike one step closer to reality!