Elk Avenue will be expanding in the near future, with plans to give the four-lane road its own middle lane and widen the existing lanes in the name of increasing traffic flow and making the stretch itself safer for the cars that use it.

Jon Hartman, Planning and Development Director for Elizabethton, said the bulk of the expansion work will mainly take place between the Pizza Hut and KFC.

“They will be putting a center lane in, to better separate the lanes of traffic,” Hartman said.

To make room for this expansion, TDOT will be demolishing many of the abandoned buildings along the road.

Mark Nagi, community relations officer for the district, said they plan to begin construction on the road during the fall of 2019. They are currently working on securing the land necessary for construction.

Specifically, the expansion plans include widening the five-lane stretch from McArthur Avenue from 11-foot lanes to 12 as well as widening the four-lane stretch from Holly Lane to N. Roan Street and East Elk Avenue’s intersection to a five-lane road, all of which will be 12’ wide.

“TDOT came to us with a few different ideas on what to do,” Hartman said. “The city decided widening the road was the best option, and TDOT agreed.”

In terms of cost, Hartman said TDOT handles the majority of the work on its own, including taking down the empty buildings.

He said the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) did a study in 2008 to determine ways to improve the flow of traffic in the area. Hartman said the original plan was to build a northern bypass to Elizabethton.

“TDOT determined most of the traffic on Elk Avenue is ‘local,’ meaning they are going to and from locations along that main road,” Hartman said.

He said widening the road will also allow for better safety, as a crash right now could be disastrous.

“You maybe have about an inch between the two lanes of traffic right now,” he said.

In addition to the road expansion, TDOT and Elizabethton are also looking at the triangle intersection of Broad Street, Elk Avenue and N. Roan Street, hoping to determine better synchronization between the lights there so cars do not back up too far beyond the intersection.

Though TDOT plans to begin construction in late 2019, neither they nor Hartman had an estimate on when the project would be completed.