Mobility Study full of ‘problem’ dots: Choto, N’shore, more
Roughly 100 residents, mostly from the Choto area south of Farragut but also including a handful of others who use Northshore Drive and related roads it intersects almost daily, attended a special Mobility Study question-and-answer session, presented by Knox County government and including Knox traffic & engineer officials, along with representatives of the firm preparing some shoulder improvement to Northshore later this year.
Residents expressed frustrations and concerns, and bounced possible solutions off engineers and other officials with Cannon & Cannon, Inc., the low-bidding firm tackling those immediate improvements, while hearing the experts respond. This came in the Farragut High School Commons Thursday evening, Jan. 16.
They answered residents’ questions at three areas where Choto/Northshore area maps were placed — all stations the same — each manned by a Cannon & Cannon engineer.
Residents picked out sticky dots of different colors to indicate the problems on the maps, and exact location of those problems, near the end of the session.
Concerning the need to lessen congestion along Northshore intersections, at least two residents said they preferred “roundabouts, not left-turn lanes” as the way to best get the job done.
“Our next step is to identify the existing conditions, existing problems, basically. From that, we develop some improvement recommendations,” said Alan Childers, a Cannon & Cannon senior transportation engineer manning one of the stations.
Another resident said about Northshore traffic, “There’s nowhere for the emergency people to go ... I have concerns about that.”
However, in terms of finding effective solutions. “Is it difficult financially, or just construction-wise, with (Fort Loudoun) Lake so close,” another resident asked.
“Right now we’re trying to address the short-term stuff,” Childers said, adding, “I can tell you that adding five lanes (to Northshore) would cost a fortune.”
By far the area most marked by the dots were on Northshore Drive between the Concord Road roundabout westward to the Choto Road roundabout — namely congestion, crashes, intersection operations (no left turn lane or additional roundabout), visibility and sight distance issues plus speeding and bike-pedestrian issues — congestion and speeding marked the most.
On Choto Road, from just north of Prater Lane past the Northshore roundabout leading into Harvey Road when going north, several attending residents marked speeding as the biggest issue, followed by intersection operations.
At the intersection of Northshore and Harvey Road, visibility/sight distance and intersection operations were most noted.
“A lot of folks have really talked about the inability to get in and out of their driveways or their roads and having a lot of delay because obviously you’ve got a lot of traffic on Northshore,” said Jim Snowden, Knox County senior director of Engineering & Public Works.
As for how the county would respond to resident/citizen feedback, Snowden estimated mid-February to the first of March when county and Cannon & Cannon officials “will probably take the analysis and the results of the study and the proposed projects to County Commission in a public forum.
“Let them see it, let them digest it, because ultimately, we’ll be asking them for funding to implement these projects,” he added.
