BRISTOL, Tenn. – The city has applied for a Tennessee Department of Transportation grant that Bristol officials hope will mean state funding for road improvements near a planned waste-to-energy plant.
Bristol is seeking the TDOT grant to improve the intersection of Weaver Pike and Vance Tank Road. The intersection leads to the proposed waste-to-energy plant that Reclaimed Resources, a Bristol-based company, wants to build at the former Raytheon site.
The road improvements would make it easier for trucks to enter and leave the planned plant. Bristol leaders estimate the plant would take 48 truck deliveries of waste each day.
“We’ve been encouraged by the state to apply for the grant,” City Manager Jeffrey Broughton said. “Under ideal circumstances, the state will totally fund the improvements. We’re very hopeful that will happen, and they’ll pay 100 percent of the cost.”
Deputy City Manager Michael Sparks said that while Bristol must apply for the grant, it’s the state that studies the intersection and analyzes the cost of possible improvements.
“There’s no specific amount for us to request in the [grant] application,” Sparks said. “But this is certainly a worthy and beneficial project to support.”
Sparks said TDOT likely will decide on Bristol’s application about 30 to 45 days after it’s received.
Last fall, Reclaimed Resources originally laid out a $157 million project to create and run the plant, which it says can take municipal waste and transform it – free of odor – into energy. The company estimates the plant eventually would have 100 employees, hired over a two-year period.
Both Bristol and Sullivan County have agreed to give Reclaimed Resources an estimated $4 million in various tax breaks for the project. But those tax breaks can’t be formally awarded until Reclaimed Resources officially takes over the 97-acre site.
In recent weeks, Reclaimed Resources has been in intense negotiations to finish the takeover deal. Because of those ongoing talks, Ted Cox, owner of Reclaimed Resources, has declined to comment on the proposed plant – other than to suggest an announcement on its status will come soon.
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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