Mark Watson
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson cited a top six project list during his “State of the City” presentation to the League of Women Voters on Tuesday.
The items on the list were installing the synthetic turf on Blankenship Field, to be completed in May, in time for graduation; improving a few intersections, including at Tulane Avenue; making progress on Rails to Trails; finishing the new Friendship Bell pavilion at Alvin K. Bissell Park; adding exhaust systems at Oak Ridge fire stations for the diesel-burning fire trucks; and replacing the Oak Ridge Water Plant.
The new water plant could cost $44 million and be built at the city’s water intake on Melton Hill Lake in south Oak Ridge. It’s probably the largest public works project for the city, Watson said. About half of the city’s water is used by the City of Oak Ridge and the other half is used by U.S. Department of Energy facilities, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.
Watson put a June date on the traffic crossings at Tulane Avenue and Laboratory Road.
Phase I of the work on Rails to Trails, which could convert a former CSX railroad into a pedestrian and bicycle path, includes environmental and design work, Watson said.
The Friendship Bell completion includes gardens and lighting.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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