Traffic Calming devices delayed by KUB work

What you can do to help keep it moving forward

 

KUB work like this on E. Oklahoma could delay implementation of the traffic calming plan. But you can help keep the plan on track.


As by now, you've seen or felt or heard all 
the digging up of sections of the streets in Old North Knoxville. This is the work of KUB (Knoxville Utilities Board) as part of its PACE 10 plan to upgrade the sewer system. While it has had the side effect of slowing traffic (for the most part) on the streets where work is going on, it has had another not-so-good effect: it has temporarily halted the implementation of the permanent traffic calming devices that Old North residents overwhelming approved in an October-November 2005 balloting process. There was a 95% positive response to the plan, well above the requirements of the city's traffic calming process. 

On February 24, 2006, Old North Knoxville Traffic Calming Chair Tim Sparer and ONK President Penny Baxter sent a letter was sent to Stephen J. King, Director of Engineering for the City of Knoxville, asking for "the City to proceed with the implementation of the plan as designed by ETCDC (East Tennessee Community Design Center) and the City. We also ask that the City include neighborhood input into the design of the traffic circles. Old North Knoxville is an H1 historic neighborhood and we would like the circles to complement the historic character of the neighborhood." City Council members Rob Frost and Bob Becker were copied on the letter. 

The letter further states: "We were hoping that this work would begin over the summer/fall but now we are told that it is on hold until the PACE 10 improvements are completed... Old North Knoxville has been patient during this whole process, including a year-and-a-half hiatus while the City developed a plan for implementation of traffic calming. At this point, we ask that the City try to coordinate with these upgrades so that the traffic calming devices can be implemented as quickly as possible. " 

So, what can you do? Contact Stephen J. King and ask him to coordinate with KUB so that the traffic calming devices can be installed as work is completed on those streets that are slated to get devices. Without this coordination, it could be the spring of 2007 before any devices are installed, and with I-40 construction picking up and the 14 - 18 month temporary closure of a section of I-40 through downtown slated for 2007 or 2008, that may mean there could be more cut-through arriving before the devices do. 

To contact Stephen King, call 865-215-2148, fax 215-2631, e-mail , or send a letter to 1400 Loraine St., Knoxville, TN 37921. You might also want to contact Mayor Bill Haslam to ask him to help with this. He can be reached at 865-215-2040 phone, 215-2085 fax, or at . Your polite help could help us get the devices as soon as possible and make traffic calming a reality.

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