Workers repave Broadway at Jackson Square on Oct. 25 as part of a pedestrian safety improvement project paid for with red light camera money.
The city-owned parking lot on the north side of Jackson Square now has two handicapped-accessible areas, and the pedestrian safety improvements under way there could be finished in another week, an official said Tuesday.
The project, which includes road and sidewalk work, is being done under a contract approved by Oak Ridge City Council in August.
It’s part of more than $500,000 worth of projects that use red light camera money. The other projects are designed to make eight Oak Ridge Turnpike intersections safer for pedestrians. Those improvements, which will provide a pedestrian walkway and crosswalk system near Oak Ridge Turnpike businesses, are estimated at $370,000.
This summer, Oak Ridge officials said the improvements at the Jackson Square parking lot on the north side of Broadway Avenue would help connect it to the square, make it more accessible, and provide alternate parking while parts of the square’s public infrastructure are rebuilt. The parking lot is used by the Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
The work would complement changes expected under a revitalization of the square that could start soon after Jan. 1 using a Tennessee Department of Transportation enhancement grant worth close to $800,000.
The red light cameras issue citations for drivers who speed or run red lights, and they are installed at four locations on busy Oak Ridge roadways, near schools, and at main intersections. There have been other pedestrian safety projects that have also used the red light camera money.
