ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Comments

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Continued road work on Hixson Pike frustrates business owners, residents

By: Karen Nazor Hill
(Contact)

Included in this article

Jeff Dendy

Staff Photo by John Rawlston Small wooden signs prohibit parking along Hixson Pike in Riverview on Tuesday. A road repaving project has some residents and businesses complaining over insufficient notice and parking problems.

Jeff Dendy, owner of Jeffrey’s Flowers on Hixson Pike, said he had no idea the city was about to tear up the road in front of his business until it was torn up.

“I looked out my window last Thursday and saw workers ripping up a section in front of my store,” said Mr. Dendy, whose business is at 1302 Hixson Pike. “That’s where I park. That’s where my customers park.”

About 18 months ago, city crews ripped up the roadway to put in new sewers, and two months ago, crews were back, he griped.

Eddie Tate, pavement manager for Chattanooga, said after the sewer lines were put in, there were issues with settlement of the pavement.

The project that took place two months ago was the first step in the project now being completed, he said.

“We did work to correct the settlement, and now we’re taking off the top layer and paving it back,” he said.

The city is working on two major paving projects on Hixson Pike and Central Avenue, which should be finished by the end of the week, Mr. Tate said.

Still, Mr. Dendy is not the only nearby resident and business owner angry about the paving project between Barton Avenue and Bright School. He said the lack of notification was the major problem.

“The only parking I have for my customers is outside my door,” Mr. Dendy said. “This is hurting my business. Had I known in advance, I would have been prepared.

Shelley Ellison, who lives at 1308 Hixson Pike, said she was surprised there was no advance notice of the road work.

“I understand that work has to be done. The problem for us is parking,” she said. “They put ‘no parking’ signs out, but there was no explanation what was going on or how long the project was going to take.”

Notifying residents and business owners of impending road work is a problem, Mr. Tate acknowledged.

“Traffic engineering sent out press releases to the media that notified of the work on Central Avenue and Hixson Pike,” he said.

The releases were sent to newspapers, radio and TV stations on Oct. 30, Oct. 31 and Nov. 4, he said.

“We know these are high-volume roads, and we would love to go door-to-door and tell everybody, but the city of Chattanooga has 1,200 center-line miles of roadways, and we have projects going on all over the city,” he said.

That explanation is a “dollar short and a day late,” Mr. Dendy said.

For now, notifications will continue to be made via news releases to area media, Mr. Tate said.

“We try to get the word out,” he said. “We’re not blocking roadways permanently. I wish we had an individual on all projects who had time to hang fliers and knock on doors, but we don’t.”

Comments