Oak Ridge Today

State grant of more than $900,000 to be used for Turnpike sidewalks

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A state grant of more than $900,000 will be used to complete sidewalks along the south side of Oak Ridge Turnpike from Illinois Avenue to Fairbanks Road, including along this stretch of roadway between Lafayette Drive and Division Road, pictured on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:45 a.m. July 7.

Oak Ridge has received a state transportation grant of more than $900,000, and it will be used to complete sidewalks along the south side of Oak Ridge Turnpike between Illinois Avenue and Fairbanks Road, officials said Wednesday.

The $927,021.40 Multimodal Access Grant is from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

It’s one of 14 grants worth a total of about $10.3 million awarded this year, according to information from TDOT. Other cities receiving grants in the Knoxville area were Lenoir City—$899,394.30 for an SR2/Broadway Multimodal Access Project—and Gatlinburg—$396,036 for US 321 Safety Upgrades and Trolley Stop.

In Oak Ridge, the grant will be used to help build a continuous sidewalk on the south side of the Turnpike from Illinois to Fairbanks.

The current standard requires sidewalks in front of new buildings when they face the Turnpike. So, there are short stretches of new sidewalks in front of The Donut Palace and Zaxby’s restaurant, both relatively new businesses, interspersed with sections of no sidewalks in front of Martin Funeral Home and First Presbyterian Church between Lafayette Drive and Division Road. [Read more…]

City receives $433K grant for traffic signal, pedestrian improvements at two intersections

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A $433,000 grant awarded to the City of Oak Ridge would be used to make traffic signal and pedestrian improvements at two intersections on Oak Ridge Turnpike, including at South Tulane Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge has received a $433,000 grant for improvements at two intersections on Oak Ridge Turnpike, one at South Tulane Avenue and the other at East Division Road/Tennyson Road. The improvements, which require a 20 percent local match of roughly $108,000, will include marked crosswalks, ramps, and upgrades to help pedestrians.

The project will include traffic signal and pedestrian feature upgrades at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Tulane Avenue, between the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce and Oak Ridge Municipal Building. The upgrades will include the addition of handicap ramps, crosswalks, countdown pedestrian signals with push buttons, and radar vehicle detection, Oak Ridge Community Development Director Kathryn Baldwin said in a December 1 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. A traffic signal pole will be relocated to avoid conflicts with overhead utilities.

Improvements at East Division Road/Tennyson Road, near Methodist Medical Center, will include the addition of handicap ramps, crosswalks, and countdown pedestrian signals with push buttons and radar vehicle detection. Sidewalks could be added where there are gaps or where new handicap ramps are disconnected from existing sidewalks, Baldwin said. [Read more…]

Large tree falls on power line, causes outage for about 7,150

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A large tree fell on a power line in west Oak Ridge early Saturday morning, causing an outage that affected about 7,150 customers, officials said.

The tree fell on a subtransmission line that runs over the top of a ridge south of Oak Ridge Turnpike on the west side of town at about 12:15 a.m. Saturday, July 11.

The tree shorted out the feeds to two substations, which caused a power outage roughly from Tulane Avenue westward, the Oak ridge Electric Department said. [Read more…]