A month after Jim Ledbetter spied more than 30 errant bright orange, plastic barricades on the banks of South Chickamauga Creek that were washed downstream of the Interstate 24-Interstate 75 “Split” project, he found they still have not been retrieved by the contractor.
In March, Ledbetter – a member of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Alliance – had complained to the state agency after finding the barricades scattered along a five-mile-long stretch of the creek between I-75 and Shallowford Road. There are no specific rules about recovering barricades, but at around $200 each, the cost makes it worthwhile to keep track of them, state officials said.
Late last month, on a return visit, he paddled from the Camp Jordan canoe launch to Shallowford Road and saw the debris still there – which he considers an eyesore.
“With the waters well out of their banks, and the debris scattered over broad, inaccessible areas, I had my doubts that a clean-up would happen ‘as soon as the current slows down to an acceptable level,’ per [Tennessee Department of Transportation] spokesperson [Jennifer Flynn],” Ledbetter said in an email to the Times Free Press and TDOT officials.
Flynn said Saturday a clean-up is coming and could be done as soon as next week, weather permitting.