Residents gathered at Ball Camp Elementary School on Election Day (08/01/24). It was a fitting place and time because construction on Ball Camp Pike/Schaad Road had access to the school entrance and parking lot blocked.
Motorists/voters had to gain entrance from a side road behind the school that turns off Middlebrook Pike. And then battle for parking spaces.
Jim Snowden (center) and Commissioner Larsen Jay discuss school access from Ball Camp Pike with a concerned parent.
Most folks were disgruntled when they entered the gym to view maps of the “coming soon” Schaad Road extension. After all, the extension was envisioned by then-County Executive Tom Schumpert back in the late-1990s.
The goal was to link north Knoxville with west Knox County via a four-lane connector using existing roads as much as possible. One phase, from Clinton Highway across Pleasant Ridge Road, has been finished for some time. Bravo!
Because it is a Knox County project – funded solely by the county – the project was split into four phases.
In fact, when one looks at the map, it looks like the project is pretty much complete. But wrinkles like those on Ball Camp Pike (which will connect directly to Lovell Road across Middlebrook Pike) are a source of frustration and delay.
“It never was supposed to take so long,” Jim Snowden, senior director of engineering and public works, told Knox TN Today. He now hopes for completion in spring 2025.
In a report filed by WBIR-TV reporter Vinay Simlot on April 10, 2024, he said the latest phase was supposed to be finished on Dec. 22, 2023, but Knox County Commission granted the builders, Charles Blalock & Sons, an extension to Sept. 30, 2024. Read the full story here.
We spotted three county commissioners at the August 1 meeting, but others might have left already. Commission chair Terry Hill, at-large Commissioner Larsen Jay and Cedar Bluff area commissioner Gina Oster were talking with residents. And Blalock’s project manager was surrounded.
One resident said Blalock could face a $2,000/day penalty for delays after September 30, “unless they get another extension.”
A parent said the design has “inadequate access” to Ball Camp Elementary School. She wants a cut-through that would isolate the playground from the school. Another asked for a traffic signal, but that’s unrealistic for congestion twice a day.
Knox County is now acquiring right-of-way for the final phase – from Oak Ridge Highway to Pleasant Ridge Road. Watch a neat video produced by Knox County here.
