Knox County, TN (WVLT / WOKI) – Work on a new pedestrian bridge in Corryton is set to begin soon.
Because traffic can get heavy throughout Knox County, leaders wanting to keep students and other people away from the Tazewell Road between Gibbs Middle and High Schools asked for the pedestrian bridge to be installed.
Knox County Senior Chief Engineer Jim Snowden says Emory Road and Tazewell Pike both have a lot of traffic with between 12,000 and 15,000 traveling the roads each day at about 40 miles per hour.
Snowden says “We don’t want pedestrians crossing that roadway with that volume of traffic and with that speed of traffic. This will give them an opportunity to cross over and really never have to be in conflict with the vehicles on the roadway.”
Snowden said people from Corryton went to the county about the dangers of crossing in that area because students sometimes walk those roads to get to class.
Snowden said people also walk to get to the football stadium.
So, the county applied for a state grant to build a pedestrian bridge.
“It’ll connect right in front of the high school and have a walkway from the existing sidewalks on the elementary and middle school side,” Snowden said. “You’ll go up a long ramp to get to the bridge, go across the bridge, and then there’ll be kind of another ramp on the high school side that then discharges you into the area where you go to the football stadium.”
Snowden says they’re finally making progress.
First they need a licenses agreement, essentially the county for long-term maintenance of the bridge and then, a donation of property to KUB so they can relocate some of their facilities that are in conflict with the bridge.
If approved, Snowden says the goal is for construction to start later this year or early next year. He hopes to have the plans finalized in the coming weeks.
The overall project is slated to be finished by late next year.
E. Emory Rd sign (photo courtesy of WVLT)
