letters to the editor
Engineering Department, Town, are praised
Thank you to the Town of Farragut (TOF) Engineering Department, and resident Steven Valentine, for making our local government work for us. I serve as the president of Hanover Court Subdivision HOA, at Old Stage Road (OSR) and Watt Road.
With the recent growth, street traffic has become a serious issue. Steven Valentine and other residents voiced concerns about excessive speeding, potentially endangering local residents that actively walk, bike and run on the path alongside OSR. We agreed that just attempting to cross the street at OSR and McFee Road can give even the most diehard road athlete the heebie-jeebies.
As a result, Steven formed a group of concerned citizens on Next Door. Several months later he eloquently presented our concerns at a recent Board of Mayor and Alderman (BOMA) meeting.
The TOF officials thoughtfully listened, and several board members came to us after the meeting to ask follow-up questions. Town elected officials visited the area multiple times to personally study the situation firsthand.
Vice Mayor Louise Povlin and Town administrator David Smoak then sprang into action a couple of months later and facilitated a traffic study on OSR to begin the traffic mitigation process. We learned that the Town’s elected officials had been planning for future safety improvements on OSR and other adjoining routes (Watt Road) for potential roundabouts, stop signs and other traffic/safety devices to help relieve traffic and moderate excess speeding. The bike lanes were widened near the OSR/Watt Road intersection as an initial safety measure.
The new traffic signal on Watt Road and Kingston Pike is a small example of the larger traffic plan that allows pedestrians/cyclists to cross the busy intersection on Watt Road/Kingston Pike (by Little Joe’s Pizza) onto the recently added section of sidewalk, creating a safe, contiguous path to Mayor Bob Leonard Park.
We are impressed at the ease of communication and the “lightning fast” response time. From those of us who live off OSR, we appreciate that the Town’s elected officials, including the Engineering Department staff, are fully engaged with the local citizens and are actively developing and implementing strategic action plans to improve the traffic flow within our Town.
Lisa Hall,
Farragut
