Citizen comments at the last public meeting concerning the widening of Apison Pike from Old Lee Highway to Ooltewah-Ringgold Road drove planners back to the drawing board. They will present the updated plans at a community meeting Thursday, June 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Collegedale Community Church.
“Basically this meeting is a follow-up to the design meeting that was held several months ago where TDOT designers showed the preliminary design plans,” said Tennessee Department of Transportation community relations officer Jennifer Flynn.
The overall road design of a continuous left turn lane and two traffic lanes, a four-foot bicycle lane and a five-foot sidewalk in either direction has not changed. Nor has the amount of right of way required, meaning that previous suggestions to replace the turn lane with a planted median in some areas will likely not come to fruition.
At the last meeting, Branston Road residents raised issues about placement of the roadway, saying that as it was originally designed it would negatively impact their neighborhood. Approximately 100 homes are in the Branston neighborhood, probably the largest concentration along the length of the project.
TDOT officials said at that time that they would look at shifting the road and how that would impact the rest of the project.
“As far as the alignment, we just have to look at it and balance the impact on both sides of the road,” said TDOT representative Jim Waters.