Oak Ridge Today

Design forum for Pennsylvania-North Tulane intersection is Wednesday

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UT Intersection Project Open Forum April 3 2019

Students from the University of Tennessee are planning to host a virtual open forum as they continue to explore alternative designs for the intersection at Pennsylvania and North Tulane Avenues in Oak Ridge, a press release said. The event will be accessible via Facebook Live on Wednesday, April 3, from 5 p.m. until 6 p.m.

The effort is part of a senior project for the students from UT’s College of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the press release said. The Oak Ridge Public Works Department teamed up with the group to evaluate designs that would potentially realign the intersections of North Tulane Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Providence Road, and East Pasadena Road.

The students held their first open forum in early March at Oak Ridge Public Library, where they introduced themselves and gathered public opinions and concerns. In the upcoming open forum, students will build on the feedback received so far and present conceptual drawings of alternatives that are under consideration, the press release said. [Read more…]

UT students to host forum on intersection design for Pennsylvania at Tulane

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Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge

Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge

 

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department is teaming up with students from the University of Tennessee to explore alternative designs for the intersection at Pennsylvania and North Tulane avenues.

Some residents refer to the five-way intersection near Oak Ridge High School as “malfunction junction.”

The effort to explore alternative designs for the intersection is part of a senior project for the group of students from UT’s College of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a press release said. To help gather input from the community, the students will host an interactive open forum on Monday, March 4. The forum will be held in the Oak Ridge Public Library’s auditorium from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. [Read more…]

One lane of Pennsylvania to be closed Aug. 15, 16

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One lane of Pennsylvania Avenue will close on Monday and Tuesday morning next week for street repairs.

The road is scheduled to be closed between West Outer Drive and Hillside Road at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, August 15, and Tuesday, August 16. [Read more…]

Updated notice of road closure for Pennsylvania Avenue

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The Oak Ridge Public Works Department has rescheduled a planned road closure from Monday, August 1, to Tuesday, August 2.

Crews will now close both lanes of Pennsylvania Avenue from East Pasadena Road to North Tulane Avenue and a small section of East Pasadena at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. At least one lane will reopen by 2 p.m. so school bus routes can run as scheduled. This will also lessen the impact on student pick-up and drop-off traffic.

The closure is necessary for the Oak Ridge Electric Department to replace a utility pole on the island at the junction of North Tulane, Pennsylvania, and Providence Road. [Read more…]

Revised: Road closure in Oak Ridge on Tuesday

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The Oak Ridge Public Works Department will close the east bound lane (one lane only) on Pennsylvania Avenue from Hillside Road to West Passmore Road on Tuesday, July 26. The Electric Department work in this area has been delayed. The single lane road closure is necessary for crews to patch a strip of the road on Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Residents are urged to use extreme care and caution while driving in the area, and we ask that you consider using alternate routes,” a press release said. “We apologize for any inconvenience this closure may cause and appreciate your patience.” [Read more…]

Robbery allegedly involved armed confrontation between two defendants, juvenile victim

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Xyrius Jaeren Dickerson

Xyrius Jaeren Dickerson

The alleged robbery reported in the Burger King parking lot on Thursday actually occurred at a home on Pennsylvania Avenue, and it allegedly involved an armed confrontation between a 21-year-old man, a juvenile co-defendant, and a juvenile victim, according to an arrest warrant filed Monday.

Xyrius Jaeren Dickerson, 21, of Osage Road in Oak Ridge, has been charged with aggravated robbery in the case. He was arrested Sunday afternoon.

The Oak Ridge Police Department Officer responded to the reported robbery at Burger King on Oak Ridge Turnpike at about 4:43 p.m. Thursday.

The juvenile victim said he had been invited to the home of the juvenile co-defendant to pick up his recovered cell phone, said the warrant, which was filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. He said he was picked up by Dickerson and the co-defendant at Burger King before being taken to the co-defendant’s house on Pennsylvania Avenue, ORPD Officer S. Perry Lewis said in the warrant. [Read more…]

Two Knoxville men arrested after two alleged drive-by shootings

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Alexander Ryan Tirado

Alexander Ryan Tirado

Joshua Chase Payne

Joshua Chase Payne

Two Knoxville men were arrested and charged with reckless endangerment after drive-by shootings were reported on Pennsylvania Avenue and West Outer Drive on Tuesday, authorities said.

Arrested were Alexander Tirado, 25, of Oak Park Drive in Knoxville, and Joshua Chase Payne, 23, of Wallace Road in Knoxville.

In arrest warrants, Oak Ridge Police Department officers reported two calls of shots fired on West Outer Drive and Pennsylvania Avenue near Pine Lane on Tuesday night.

There were at least three adults and two juveniles in the 300 block of West Outer Drive, in the “immediate vicinity and the general direction of the gunfire” there, the arrest warrants said. Five spent 9mm casings were recovered from the street, authorities said. [Read more…]

One injured after driver allegedly runs stop sign, hits city truck, report says

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Hillside Road and Pennsylvania Avenue Crash on Oct. 16, 2015

A 22-year-old Oak Ridge man was taken by an ambulance to a Knoxville hospital after he allegedly ran a stop sign and hit a city-owned pickup truck at Hillside Road and Pennsylvania Avenue on Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, authorities said. (Photo courtesy Kevin Rice)

 

A 22-year-old Oak Ridge man was taken by ambulance to a Knoxville hospital after he allegedly ran a stop sign and hit a city-owned pickup truck on Friday, authorities said.

Nathan D. Benvenuto was driving east on Hillside Road in a 1991 GMC compact utility vehicle when he ran the stop sign at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue at about 11:26 a.m. Friday, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.

Benvenuto’s vehicle collided with a 2012 Ford pickup truck owned by the City of Oak Ridge and driven by Timothy Lynn Ward, 46, also of Oak Ridge. Ward was driving southbound on Pennsylvania Avenue at the time of the crash.

“(Benvenuto’s vehicle) did not stop for the stop sign on Hillside Road at Pennsylvania Avenue and entered the intersection in front of (the pickup truck driven by Ward), which did not have time to stop and collided with (Benvenuto’s vehicle),” said the crash report, written by ORPD Officer Daniel Freytag. [Read more…]

Public meeting Tuesday on proposed roundabout near ORHS

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Oak Ridge Proposed Roundabout

 

The City of Oak Ridge has released a potential design of the proposed roundabout near Oak Ridge High School, and a city board will accept public comments on the possible intersection change during a Tuesday evening meeting.

The roundabout could be built at the five-way intersection of Providence Road, Pennsylvania Avenue, East Pasadena Lane, and North Tulane Avenue. City officials aren’t fond of the term, but many residents refer to the intersection as “Malfunction Junction.”

During the Tuesday evening meeting, the Oak Ridge Traffic Safety Advisory Board will discuss the city’s grant application for the roundabout under the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives program. The discussion will include an overview of the project, and the public will be allowed to comment. [Read more…]

City to apply for state grant to build roundabout at ‘Malfunction Junction’

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Malfunction Junction at North Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday agreed to apply for a state grant that could be used to help build a roundabout at the five-way intersection of North Tulane and Pennsylvania avenues, Providence Road, and East Pasadena Lane. Though city officials don’t like the name, the five-way intersection is sometimes referred to as “Malfunction Junction.”

 

The city of Oak Ridge plans to apply for a state grant to design and build a roundabout near Oak Ridge High School at a five-way intersection sometimes referred to as “Malfunction Junction.”

The Oak Ridge City Council unanimously approved the grant application on Monday. If approved, the Tennessee Department of Transportation grant would be used to build a roundabout at the intersection of Providence Road, Pennsylvania Avenue, East Pasadena Lane, and North Tulane Avenue.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $748,113. Tthe grant funding would come from the Transportation Alternative Program. TDOT funds 80 percent of those projects, excluding design, and a 20 percent local match is required.

The city’s cost would be about $150,000, and the city would pay for the design, officials said Monday. [Read more…]

Another 12 hours or so to restore power, Electric Department says

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Willow Run Fallen Tree

A giant tree fell at Willow Run Apartments in Clinton and wrecked the fence at the basketball and tennis courts. (Photo courtesy Jim Harris)

 

It could take another 12-13 hours to restore power across Oak Ridge after the severe Tuesday evening storms, the Oak Ridge Electric Department said on Twitter at roughly 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

That would presumably mean that some customers might not have electricity restored until sometime Wednesday morning.

The Electric Department said the storms knocked down many trees and limbs. Crews have responded to fallen trees, power outages, dangling utility lines, and other problems across town since the short, fierce storm ripped through Oak Ridge and Anderson County at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Electric Department warned residents to stay away from power lines on the ground.

At about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Oak Ridge workers were out cutting up trees and restoring power on Jefferson Avenue.  A few miles away off Pennsylvania Avenue, Plymouth Circle was blocked to traffic, and it appeared that there was a utility line on the road blocked by orange traffic cones. [Read more…]