Blasting continues at Kroger Marketplace site on Monday

Blasting at the Kroger Marketplace construction site is scheduled to continue at 2 p.m. Monday.

Police officers will stop traffic on Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike for the duration of the blast, which will be about three to five minutes, a press release said.

During the blasting, 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 fire chief will call businesses and residents in the area on Sunday to advise them of the blasting the next day, the press release said.

There was also blasting at the site earlier this month and in October.

Building construction has already 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, visit www.oakridgetn.gov.