In a short meeting Monday evening, the Loudon County Commission voted to approve two resolutions to get the project to fix the intersection at Shaw Ferry Road and Highway 11 up and running.

The crossroads have been the site of numerous accidents for years, some deadly. 

The state has agreed to fix the Loudon County intersection. Drivers and local leaders have long maintained the problem with the intersection is the blind hill on Highway 11. Anyone attempting to turn from Shaw Ferry Road is unable to see the cars until the top of the hill, at times too late to stop an accident from happening. 

Many elected officials have worked to get the Tennessee Department of Transportation to fix the problem. 

Caution lights and rumble strips are currently in place at the intersection. 

Loudon County Mayor Doyle Arp, State Representatives Dennis Ferguson and Jimmy Matlock, and several county commissioners, especially Commissioner Wayne Gardin, refused to let the matter drop and are credited for keeping the issue on the radar of state officials.

Monday night Arp told the commissioners it was important to get the resolution approved.

"We're trying to get it in and approved for this funding cycle," he said. The first resolution, which was approved, contained the standard agreement for the county to give TDOT the land needed and to take any necessary steps to move any utilities or anything else not connected with the highway.

It also included provisions for the project's drainage and maintenance of the road frontage.

Arp told commissioners there is no county money involved. 

The commission next voted to approve a second resolution to be sent to Transportation Commissioner Gerald Nicely. Arp explained this resolution was also a standard agreement to get the Shaw Ferry Road project moving. 

Arp said it was an agreement for the county to take responsibility for lights on the road, to pay the electric bill for those lights and do standard maintenance. 

The only other matters taken up by the commission were to approve year end budget amendments for the 2008-2009 budget. The county is expected to vote for a continuing budget resolution to push back the due date for it to be sent to the state. 

With state government putting the state budget on hold in order to see how federal stimulus funds shake out, the ripple effect has forced most local governments and school boards to delay their own budgets.