The joint work session between the Oak Ridge Board of Education and Oak Ridge City Council that had been scheduled for this evening has been canceled due to snow and winter weather, and it has been rescheduled for Tuesday, January 23.
Among the items to be discussed are the Oak Ridge Preschool project, proposed general aviation airport, and electrical substation project at the Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]
Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.
A presentation that will provide information about the status of the Oak Ridge General Aviation Airport project has been scheduled for Tuesday evening.
The presentation is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 16, in the Robertsville Middle School Library. It’s part of a joint work session between the Oak Ridge City Council and Oak Ridge Board of Education that will begin at 6 p.m.
The airport presentation will be given by Billy Stair, aviation consultant, and Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. In December, Stair gave a presentation about the airport to Roane County officials.
After that meeting, Oak Ridge Today reported that Tennessee officials have appropriated $15 million that could be used for the proposed airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. The appropriation, which is pending approval of the Oak Ridge Airport by the Federal Aviation Administration, would be enough to cover about 33 percent to 38 percent of the current estimated project cost of $40 million to $45 million. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Council and Oak Ridge Board of Education will discuss school issues and receive a briefing and update on the proposed general aviation airport and electrical substation project at the Y-12 National Security Complex during a joint work session on Tuesday, January 16.
The work session will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the school library at Robertsville Middle School. Those who attend should use the main front entrance of the building, located at 245 Robertsville Road, to access the library, a press release said.
“A number of school issues will be discussed by City Council and the Board of Education during the work session,” the press release said. “The agenda also includes a briefing on the proposed general aviation airport in Oak Ridge and an update on the Y-12 electrical substation project public meeting. There will be time for an informal neighborhood discussion with City Council members during the meeting as well.” [Read more…]
An Oak Ridge Public Works Department crew repairs a broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at lunchtime Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The crew here is supervised by Oak Ridge Public Works Department Utility Line Maintenance Crew Chief Michael Brown, left. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Soils can shift during extended periods of cold weather, which can cause water lines to break, Oak Ridge Public Works Director Shira McWaters said Tuesday.
On Monday, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told City Council members that crews had responded to 35 water main breaks since January 1, an average of about five per day.
“It is not unusual for water systems (nationwide) to experience above-average breaks during extended cold weather periods when the ground starts to freeze and the subsequent thawing when warm weather returns,” McWaters said when asked about the water line breaks on Tuesday. “This is due to the shifting of soils that can cause the breaks.”
In Oak Ridge, the age of the municipal water system is a factor in the frequency of the breaks because many of the lines are older and reaching the end of their useful life, McWaters said. [Read more…]
An artist’s rendering of the entrance to the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge/U.S. Department of Energy)
The American Museum of Science and Energy could move into its new location at Main Street Oak Ridge in June, officials said Tuesday.
Crews began work on Friday and “increased activity can be expected in the area over the coming weeks as construction progresses,” a press release said.
RealtyLink, the South Carolina company developing Main Street Oak Ridge, selected Oak Ridge-based Summit Construction as the contractor for the project, the press release said.
The start of construction was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office and the City of Oak Ridge.
The new space for AMSE is located between the current JCPenney store and a future Marriott hotel, which is also under construction. The museum entrance will be on Main Street East. AMSE will be all on one floor, occupying approximately 18,000 square feet. [Read more…]
An Oak Ridge Public Works Department crew repairs a broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at lunchtime Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The crew here is supervised by Oak Ridge Public Works Department Utility Line Maintenance Crew Chief Michael Brown. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge crews have responded to 35 water main breaks since January 1, an average of about five per day, City Manager Mark Watson told City Council members on Monday.
There could be more water line breaks as the temperature warms, Watson said.
The city is plotting the water line breaks on a map for more comprehensive repairs.
Cast-iron water pipes can break when the ground shifts as it freezes and then thaws in cold winter weather. [Read more…]
A Taco Bell restaurant could be built on the property that now houses Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, at the intersection of Bus Terminal Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike. A rezoning has been requested for the 1.1-acre site by Tacala TN Corporation of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The rezoning request was approved by Oak Ridge City Council in the first of two monthly readings, or meetings, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018.
Although they didn’t approve a specific development, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved a rezoning that could allow a Taco Bell restaurant with a drive-through on property that now houses a courthouse at the intersection of Bus Terminal Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Council was approving a rezoning only. Any specific proposal to develop the property would undergo the city’s normal site review.
The 1.1-acre site is now home to Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, which is expected to move soon to a county-owned building that once housed the Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center on Emory Valley Road.
The rezoning has been requested by Tacala TN Corporation of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The rezoning would change the property from an O-2 Office District to a B-2 General Business District. Restaurants are allowed as special exceptions in the O-2 district, as long as there is no drive-through, Oak Ridge Community Development Senior Planner Kelly Duggan said in a December 18 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. B-2 districts allow drive-through restaurants “by right,” Duggan said. [Read more…]
Construction work has started at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. Interior demolition work is under way, and exterior demolition work could start Wednesday. A crew was working at the new AMSE location on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Construction work has started at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. Interior demolition work is under way, and exterior demolition work could start Wednesday.
The value of the improvements is estimated at roughly $1.5 million. A building permit was issued December 29.
AMSE will be relocated from its current home on South Tulane Avenue, where it’s been since the mid-1970s, to about 18,000 square feet of renovated space at Main Street Oak Ridge. That’s the 58-acre project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall. The move is part of an agreement that was signed by the City of Oak Ridge and U.S. Department of Energy in December 2016.
AMSE will have about 15,000 square feet of space in the former Sears Roebuck store near JCPenney and roughly 2,700 square feet in the former Cole’s Drug Store. Inside, there will be about 7,200 square feet of exhibit space, two 800-square-foot classrooms, and a large theater with a stage, consultant Ray Evans told Oak Ridge City Council members during a December 19 work session.
Evans said construction could take 4.5 to five months. An opening date had not been set as of the December work session. [Read more…]
A tractor-trailer jack-knifed on Interstate 40 West at mile marker 349 in Roane County. That roadway is closed, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said. I-40 East at MM 349 has one lane open. Roads are very icy in this area, TDOT said Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018. The Oak Ridge/Gallaher Road exit is Exit 356. (Photo courtesy TDOT)
Note: This story was last updated at 10 a.m.
Oak Ridge Schools are closed today as a layer of ice coated the ground in Oak Ridge, making roads and sidewalks slippery.
The schools had originally planned to open two hours late.
Other local school systems are also closed today (Monday, January 8) as the forecast had called for freezing rain or a wintry mix of precipitation around school arrival time this morning. Among the other school systems closed are Anderson County, Clinton, and Roane County. Roane State Community College is closed today as well (see here for more information). [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Senior Center, in partnership with Pierce Physical Therapy, will be sponsoring a free exercise class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for anyone age 50 and over.
The program begins on Tuesday, January 9. Participants can attend either an 11 a.m. class or an 11:50 a.m. class.
The Pierce Therapy Exercise Program, or P.E.P. for short, concentrates on strength, balance, and mobility, and it incorporates therapeutic exercise, functional training, and individual exercise modifications, a press release said. [Read more…]
An Oak Ridge Public Works Department crew repairs a broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at lunchtime Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The crew here is supervised by Oak Ridge Public Works Department Utility Line Maintenance Crew Chief Michael Brown, left. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 12 p.m.
The Oak Ridge Public Works Department continued to repair broken water lines on Saturday as cold winter weather caused ground to shift, breaking some pipes.
One crew was repairing a six-inch water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at about lunchtime Saturday, and there was another busted line reported on East Tennessee Avenue just east of Georgia Avenue.
Saturday night, city workers repaired another broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue, this time near Nasson Lane and Princeton Avenue, and two more water line breaks were reported on Emerson Circle and Kentucky Avenue.
A crew was out past 1 a.m. Sunday finishing repairs on that second water line break under Northwestern Avenue, the one near Nasson Lane, as temperatures dropped again overnight. [Read more…]
