Racing in the USRowing Club National Championships in Oak Ridge on Saturday, July 19, 2014, consisted of heats and semifinals setting up the second round of finals on Sunday, July 20. (Photo by USRowing)
An engineering company will start geotechnical testing next week along Melton Lake Greenway for the installation of an eighth rowing lane, officials said Thursday.
Work will be done by Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon Inc. engineering, the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department said. The testing is scheduled to begin Monday, October 12, and be complete on Friday, October 16, weather permitting.
The testing areas will be concentrated between Palisades Parkway and Amanda Drive, a press release said. During the geotechnical testing process, the use of Melton Lake Greenway may be disrupted.
“The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department apologizes for any inconvenience and asks that caution is used while on the greenway during this time,” the release said. “Your patience is appreciated for the duration of the geotechnical testing.”
The Oak Ridge City Council considered the $50,000 contract with Barge Waggoner Sumner and Cannon for design and survey work, among other tasks, in August.
The eighth lane has been on the city’s wish list for years. It’s been in the Oak Ridge Capital Improvement Plan since 2005.
Officials announced a $250,000 state grant for the extra lane in April. They said it will allow the Oak Ridge Rowing Association to compete for bigger races and international regattas at the Oak Ridge Rowing Course, keep the site a top-tier rowing venue, and provide more on-water capacity, allowing more competitors in events. It’s also expected to significantly increase the economic impact of rowing races, or regattas.
Besides the geotechnical analysis, the contract with Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and Cannon Incorporated includes final design work, bid and construction administration, and completion of an as-built survey. Funding for the agreement is provided by a grant allocation from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.
For more information, call the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department at (865) 425-3450 or visit orrecparks.oakridgetn.gov.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
This will be good also, Ray Evans. Good Luck, with your track record. I’ll be praying to God, thanking him that that company is not doing any work near human homes. You still work for them?
Matt Bailey says
Raymond I’m curious. Did Ray beat you up and take your lunch money as a child or are ya just mad about everything? I see a guy trying to make things better. I greatly appreciate Ray’s efforts. As I understand it, the extra lane is a positive project. Is it too much to embrace anything positive?
Raymond Charles Kircher says
Accountability. Ray Evans has a horrible track record. I wish him the best of luck for this project. I agree it is needed, but as usual I believe this city has made another bad decision and nobody will be held accountable. Why is this city trying to save one citizen while 29,000 others are looking for one good thing to come from this government? Shall I list some of his very bad decisions and wasn’t held accountable for yet the tax ratepayer has paid for his mistakes?
Will Smith says
And the point remains, Mr. Evans has nothing to do with this project except in Mr. Kircher’s fevered imagination which has been detailed elsewhere and I won’t repeat again. Mr. Kircher has proven time and again that his irrational babbling should be ignored.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
Thank you for proving my point, it takes real citizens to ask questions fake people as yourself don’t ask. This project is more important than a shuttered mall where leadership and fake people do not comprehend success, and that mentality spreads like an infection into other city projects. I’m looking for something successful in this city government before Oak Ridge Leadership and its citizens die waiting for it.
Will Smith says
Really? The addition of a rowing lane is more important than the redevelopment of the mall property? What are you smoking, Mr. Kircher?
Raymond Charles Kircher says
Yes, really. Have you thought of adding another level of comprehension, maybe something like in reality? That property you so wander off-topic with is going to be the same old small town center with current leadership plans and there will already be hotels on the riverfront, more homes on that side for sure before anything you have for the citizens of this city and that property. You are a hemorrhoid, Will Smith, an electronic version of a hemorrhoid, and I’m here to push you back inside yourself. There is no mall property, you mean the shuttered mall? I know a lot about that property and this project. Go sit behind WalMart and take your dirt nap so this city can put a road through the shuttered mall.
Matt Bailey says
John, I think it’s safe to assume Raymond has moved to the edge of the cliff.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
Is that a threat Matt Bailey?
Joseph Lee says
Raymond, Next time take the blue pill please. Thanks.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
Chief Akagi, here you have an Oak Ridge senior and city board member peddling his pills in Oak Ridge. I can testify I seen Joe Lee selling his illegal prescription pills to Oak Ridge youth and seniors alike. Why aren’t you doing something about that activity? Joe Lee is a criminal.
Will Smith says
“moved to the edge”? Mr. Kircher has long since gone OVER the edge.
Will Smith says
Hotels on the riverfront? Really? Again, Mr. Kircher seems to be off in his own very strange irrational universe. And as to using the term “mall property”, what terminology would you prefer for the land where the closed mall is located?
Raymond Charles Kircher says
No, the point was to ask if Ray Evans still worked for the company doing the work. Tsk, Tsk.
Will Smith says
Except, of course, Mr. Kircher, you asked no such thing. Trying to respin your irrational ravings just won’t work.
Will Smith says
Especially since I fail to see any mention of Ray Evans as being associated with this project.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
That is because you are a failure of your own comprehension, Will Smith. Being a fake as you are is very telling and is suspect to your actual role with the city. As I told Ray Evans, get out of your way and projects will improve. Ray Evans is currently a staff accountant and is listed as a vendor in Commerce Park, Oak Ridge, TN, being that he is the local manager for this area. Hmmmmmm. Why didn’t John Huotari state Ray Evans is a staff member of this company? A little sunshine please. How can he be hired by the city and have time to work for Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and Cannon? BWSC just not that busy these days? Go read about their employees, I don’t need to share what is being said in the field, as the online posts are pretty revealing. We are being ripped off, and I expect this project to be contaminated.
Ray Evans says
I retire from BWSC ten years ago. Haven’t worked for them since. The firm hasn’t had offices in Commerce Park for nearly twelve years.
Mr. Kircher’s previous reference “I’ll be praying to God, thanking him that that company is not doing any work near human homes.” is related to the Coster Shop project in Knoxville in 2001 and 2002. In that case unknown to the other parties, the demolition contractor contracted with a private individual to dump waste from the Coster Shops demolition into a sinkhole on the private individual’s property. The neighbors, who were all on well water, were concerned that the material might contaminate their water supply. It was discovered that the private individual had been allowing dumping into his sinkhole for many years including waste fiberglass from a boat manufacturer. Test by TDEC showed no contamination from the sinkhole into the well water. Nevertheless, everyone associated with the project (BWSC, S&ME, the City of Knoxville Knox County Development Corporation and Burnett Demolition)was made a party to the suit. As I recall the mater was settled out of court in 2005 or 2006.
While I was aware of the Coster Shops project, I had no direct involvement in it.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
There is more, and related to your involvement of noninvolvement. I recall rip rap on one and a concurrent city problem of the very visible landslide from Edgemoor Road as another. Can you recall how much the city has spent on those developments? Are you the person who can make sure this city is spending for safe and long lasting development? Or, you can answer who is involved with those types of projects? We don’t have to talk about this, but since this is a city involved event no matter how much you say you or the city is involved or not involved, it can be brought up. That comprehension of involvement is better left for lawyers. I’m just questioning this choice of developer. They are getting a second chance as for what is being said in the field. And I do wish them the best of luck to get it done. God knows, we need this one to work, or we all will be dead before the debt of one of Oak Ridge riverfront properties is paid off, as some other projects have went.
Raymond Charles Kircher says
We put a lane in, SUCCESSFULLY, that improves the quality of event held there. And I’m the stupid one to think putting a road through the section of shuttered mall to connect Main St. up to WalMart is an improvement to the property there, IMMEDIATELY. Will Smith, bend over, this will hurt a little. We don’t have to wait 99 years to eminent domain that small section. Arnsdorf started this, we can end it now. It should have never been negative, not there. You can thank Ray Evans for that.
Will Smith says
Except you have no justification to take any of that property, especially without a plan that would assure such a move would not damage the subsequent development of the remaining property. Plus, there is no funding available for such a move without the city increasing their debt load. Your “plan” ranks right up there with putting a road through Clark Center Park so that people in Knoxville will come to Oak Ridge to shop.