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Residents develop plan to address traffic issues
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On June 24th, Old North Knoxville residents gathered at Fulton High School for the second Traffic Calming meeting. Curtis Catron, a volunteer with the East Tennessee Community Design Center, guided neighborhood residents through a presentation highlighting the traffic issues facing the neighborhood, and opportunities and constraints before it. A Phase One plan was also put forth, developed in large measure with the help of Bill Cole, traffic engineer for the City of Knoxville. The plan calls for a mixture of traffic circles, speed humps, painted cross walks, and even a raised intersection. The streets involved included East Scott, East Oklahoma, Glenwood, Anderson, Grainger, Fremont, and could include Folsom as well. A preliminary cost for the projected Phase One would be $64,000. The plan itself could be implemented over several years to reduce the impact of the cost. Once the pieces of the plan are in place, the neighborhood would then need to monitor the changed traffic pattern to see if issues appear on other streets, which would then be addressed in a Phase Two plan. Discussions are underway on how best to present this Phase One plan to members of the neighborhood who were unable to attend the meeting. Once support has been received and any needed changes made, a third meeting will be held. At this meeting a finalized Phase One plan will be reviewed and plans for approaching the city will be developed.
Residents attending expressed support for the plan, including representatives of Knoxville Police Department and Knoxville's fire and other emergency services.
Curtis thanked Annalee Bohon and other members of the neighborhood for their work on this project and he praised the neighborhood's organization and efforts. These efforts in part allowed the number of planned meetings to be reduced from 4 to 3.
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