Building construction has started at the new Kroger Marketplace shopping center, and blasting at the site is scheduled to continue next week.
The blasting started this week in short sessions that lasted a few minutes each on Monday and Thursday afternoons.
The blasting is expected to continue next week at 2 p.m. Monday and Thursday, a city press release said.
Oak Ridge Police Department officers will stop traffic on Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike during the blasting, which will last about  three to five minutes, the release said. Illinois Avenue traffic will be blocked from Robertsville Road to Oak Ridge Turnpike, and Oak Ridge Turnpike traffic will be blocked from the Illinois/Turnpike intersection east to Robertsville Road.
The Oak Ridge Fire Department will call businesses and residents in the area on Saturday and Tuesday to alert them to, or remind them of, the blasting.
Building construction has started at the new Kroger store, the company’s fifth in Oak Ridge. Executives and officials broke ground at the 25-acre site in August.
The $33 million Kroger shopping center is expected to open in July 2014, and it will be anchored by a new, 123,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace. The new store will include a bistro, clinic, drive-through pharmacy, fresh sushi, home center, jewelry and baby sections, an expanded natural and organic section, and apparel and shoes. There will also be a Starbucks Coffee and nine-dispenser Kroger Fuel Center.
It is expected to add more than 165 jobs.
For more information on the blasting, visit the city’s website at www.oakridgetn.gov.
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