PLEASE READ FOR BACKGROUND FOR ARTICLE ABOVE, ON THE PROPOSED EXTENTION OF LINCOLN/MLK DRIVE FROM RIVERVIEW TO DOWNTOWN KINGSPORT
One option would make the crossover at Union Street, with the second option coming in from Granby Road.
By MATTHEW LANE
mlane@timesnews.net
KINGSPORT — With the growth along West Stone Drive and future development along the river in mind, the Model City is in the early stages of looking at creating a better route from Stone Drive to Netherland Inn Road.
Kingsport Public Works Director Ryan McReynolds gave a presentation on the proposal to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen last week outlining the history of the project and the two options under consideration.
David Grace —dgrace@timesnews.net A CSX train crosses Lilac Street behind Netherland Inn on Friday. The railroad crossing could be removed under options Kingsport officials are considering as they look to create a better route from West Stone Drive to Netherland Inn Road.
The existing connection from Stone Drive to Netherland Inn Road is down Lilac Street, which McReynolds said is a dangerous corridor with an at-grade railroad crossing.
“It is a heavily used passageway, and as it stands now, that is not a good passageway,” said McReynolds.
Back in 2001, a downtown corridor study was conducted that looked at enhancing connections from Stone Drive to the downtown area. One project to come out of that study was the Gibson Mill Road improvement; another one was a connection to Netherland Inn Road.
“It’s always been somewhat of a desire to connect to Stone Drive, whether it was from Netherland Inn Road or to enhance the connection from Center Street,” McReynolds said.
Kingsport then enlisted the engineering and consulting firm of Mattern and Craig to study the passages farther on the west end of Stone Drive and return with recommendations. Last week, the BMA heard the two options of improving the route from Stone Drive to Netherland Inn.
The first route is from Union Street, improving the intersection at Fort Robinson and tying the road into the intersection at Netherland Inn and Ridgefield.
This option includes creating an above-grade crossing with the railroad tracks and removing the Lilac crossing. The cost is estimated to be $4.8 million.
The second route is from Granby Road, improving the intersections at Stone Drive and Netherland Inn. This option includes tunneling under the railroad tracks and removing the Lilac crossing. Its cost comes in a little higher at $6.3 million.
McReynolds said the staff recommends the Union Street option with the potential of an upgrade of Granby to Fort Robinson.
“Union is a heavily traveled passageway, and what we want to do is improve it to more of a safe condition,” McReynolds said. “Our desire is to move these into the long-range (traffic) plan and move from study to a more preliminary design stage.
“The work is still a few years out on whether to construct them or not.”
