‘Combo’ improvements coming to Northshore: Schoonmaker
Roughly $2 mil cost includes extending greenway
“It’s going to be a combination of doing the Northshore Drive safety improvements and extending the Northshore greenway at the same time,” said John Schoonmaker, 5th District Knox County Commissioner, who represents Farragut as well as areas of Northshore Drive and Choto.
“The reason we’re going to be doing that is (Knox County engineering department) thought it was going to be more cost effective to have one supplier, or company, that’s going to do road improvements also do the grading and the laying of the asphalt for the greenway,” he said. “They’re hoping that, as opposed to having it divided between two different companies, with one company, the cost might be a little bit lower — then, obviously, taxpayers appreciate anytime we can save money.
“When we do the safety improvements to Northshore, this will expand the road width and allow the shoulder to be improved,” he added. “This is about a $2 million expenditure.”
Looking at the timetable for that project, “Basically, we have the right-of-way acquisitions on our March agenda for Commission,” he said. “They’re tying up the last few loose ends on securing the right-of-way for the greenway.
“Once that is completed, they will actually put out for bid, probably in about 45 days, the construction plans for both Northshore safety road improvements, as well as the greenway,” Schoonmaker added. “Once they release the bid for that, there’s a 21-day period that suppliers, or the companies that do that kind of work, will have to respond back.”
After the 21 days, Schoonmaker said Commission can award the contract and get going.
“So, that’s a good thing,” he said.
As such, Schoonmaker surmised people could expect to see roadwork on that project after July 4, “barring any glitches.
“There are several companies that do our road projects,” he said. “There’s no reason for them not to bid on it.
“Once we start the Northshore project, we’ll notify the residents through those electronic signs in advance of when we’re going to start work, just so people are a little bit more prepared to see construction equipment, flag people and watching what’s going on,” Schoonmaker said.
Motorists potentially could use Turkey Creek to Virtue Road as a detour, the Commissioner suggested.
“But it’s such a heavily traveled road, the contractors understand you can’t just shut it down for hours at a time,” he said. “It has to keep flowing.”
Schoonmaker, who is term-limited and will be leaving office as the road department starts on the Northshore project, said he heard the project would take about a year.
“The good thing is it’s not like they have to move a mountain or anything like that,” he said. “It’s pretty level ground, and that always helps.”
The greenway and safety improvements project is the third in a series of road projects along the Northshore corridor — between the two roundabouts — in which Schoonmaker has been involved.
He also was instrumental in getting the new entrance to The Cove at Concord Park “to make that a safer entrance and exit, so it’s away from that sharp curve.
“And, we extended the parking lot in there to accommodate more of our citizens who want to use it. That’s our No. 1 park,” Schoonmaker added.
He also initiated having the drainage ditch piped and filled in on the south side of Northshore Drive, from the fishing bridge west to the Concord roundabout, “so if people accidently went off the road, they didn’t go down into a big drainage ditch,” he said “So, it’s a much safer transition … I still have people comment about what a nice improvement that was. I was able to get the funding for that, as well, since it’s a safety issue.”
Other Northshore issues
Regarding other pressing issues along Northshore Drive, from Concord roundabout to Loudon County line, which is the county’s jurisdiction, he said the most pressing areas for widening the road surface and shoulder are from roundabout to roundabout.
The plan would be to widen the road by 2 feet and then there would be 2 more feet of shoulder.
However, funding currently is not on the books for that issue.
Schoonmaker said there are no other projects on the books at the present time for that area. “There’s nothing else in the 5th District that’s on the radar for a road improvement,” he added.
A $70 million solution?
Still, “I asked our Engineering Department, about two years ago, what it would cost to do Northshore Drive from our jurisdiction, which starts at the Concord roundabout to the Loudon County line — meaning it would be three lanes with a bike lane and sidewalks — and at that time, that was about $70-plus million,” he said.
“So, with asphalt being 50 percent higher than it was, I guess that’s probably closer to maybe a $90 million expenditure, which is not in any kind of capital plan at this point because that would be our total road budget for about five consecutive years.”
Canton Hollow Road
Regarding another project in District 5, Schoonmaker said the Canton Hollow Road project also is expected to start this summer.
“We’re having our final meeting with all the utility contractors (this) week to make sure everybody understands what’s going on there,” he said. “And, of course, that’s a major collector road, taking traffic from Fox Road all the way up to Kingston Pike.
“That is one of those (projects) I’ve been working on since I first came on Commission in 2015, so I’ll be glad to see that thing get started finally,” Schoonmaker added.
He expects that project to take at least 18 months.
“They do have to move a lot of earth,” Schoonmaker explained. “You know where Canton Hollow and Woody Road intersect? The sight distance will be reduced by about 7 feet so that it’s safer for people turning onto Woody Road.”
And, “when you take 7 feet of dirt down, it’s a lot of dirt to move,” he said. “They’ll be moving that dirt up closer toward Kingston Pike, kind of basically where the (Lenoir City Utilities Board) and First Utility District stations are.
“Those are going to be the two biggest projects,” Schoonmaker added,
TDOT/Watt
“They are going to be doing t work out at Watt Road, by the Interstate, but that’s a (Tennessee Department of Transportation) project,” he said.
