Drivers beware: expect mid-block pedestrian crossings soon
Residents traveling along Grigsby Chapel and McFee roads can expect to see some mid-block pedestrian crossings with anticipation of slowing down traffic on those two roads.
During its meeting Thursday, Dec. 21, Farragut Municipal Planning Commission voted unanimously in favor of recommending the crossings.
The Grigsby Chapel crossing will be located about 225 feet east of Weatherly Hills Boulevard and Woodchase Drive intersection.
“(It) will have flashing beacons, and it will have a pedestrian refuge island,” Community Development director Mark Shipley said. “It will be very similar in appearance and function to the island that we have further east, closer to (North) Campbell Station Road, where the Grigsby Chapel Greenway crosses Grigsby Chapel.
“This particular location was selected because the sidewalk on the south side of Grigsby Chapel Road ends near that location,” Shipley added. “Also, getting the pedestrian across, into Weatherly Hills, (the crossing) will give them the ability to get to Weatherly Hills and access the greenway that runs directly through the middle portion of Weatherly Hills subdivision.”
Cannon & Cannon Inc., a Knoxville engineering firm, designed the crossings both at Grigsby Chapel and McFee Road, he said.
“We coordinated closely with (Town engineer) Darryl Smith on the location of this crossing (at Grigsby Chapel) due to the left turns into Woodchase there,” said Wesley Stokes, engineer with Cannon & Cannon. “There is a driveway westbound left onto Woodchase … there is an individual’s driveway on the east side of the island, so we tried to strategically place (the crossing) to give those left turns onto Woodchase as much storage as we could.”
He added the design shows a diagonal crossing “to give pedestrians a little more angled line of sight to oncoming traffic.”
Stokes said the island would be raised with plantings inside it and irrigation tied to the design as well.
“Is there a standard width you hope to have for pedestrian refuge island?” asked Vice Mayor Louise Povlin, also a Planning Commissioner.
“The minimum width of it would be 8 feet wide,” Stokes answered. “That’s a (Tennessee Department of Transportation) standard … that’s to allow the pedestrian refuge inside of the island with cars passing on both sides, to provide a little bit of a barrier, a buffer, for the pedestrian.
“Right now, all we have is the ability to cross at Smith Road and Grigsby Chapel and then all the way up at Grigsby Chapel, close to (North) Campbell Station,” Povlin said. “So, there are a lot of residents who had asked (for the crossing).
“We’re on the south side and we’d really like to get over to the greenway trails, but we don’t have much of an option,” she added. “This gives them the option to access the greenways there.”
The crossing at McFee Road, which include a “simple continental-striping with flashing beacons,” is about 200 feet north of the northern entrance to McFee Park, Shipley said. “It’s kind of centered between Brass Lantern (subdivision) and the north entrance to McFee Park.”
“On this (crossing), there’s not a refuge island proposed,” he added. “Due to the width of the road, two 12-foot lanes, basically, there’s not enough physical space to incorporate a refuge island. That would make the lanes, unless you redid the road, entirely too narrow.”
Povlin said FMPC and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen may revisit that option.
