Road Closures, Detours Part of Food City Prep
Media Contact: Wayne Scarbrough
(423) 745-4501
March 30, 2017
ATHENS, Tenn. – Athens Utilities Board (AUB) is working with the city of Athens on a series of street closings that will begin next week—on Monday, April 3—in support of the upcoming construction of the new Food City grocery store at Madison Park Center.
Some of the street closures essentially will be in place throughout the month of April.
The protracted street closings and related detours are necessary because of the extent of excavation and underground work AUB crews must do to reroute and upgrade wastewater lines in and around Park Street, Bank Street, Church Street and Hill Street.
The following street sections will be closed per the described schedule:
- Closed daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 4 – April 7
- the section of Park Street from the intersection of S. White Street at Simmons Bank (Hwy. 30) back to Hill Street
- Closed 24 hours a day April 3 – April 28
- the section of Church Street from Park Street to Bank Street (behind the post office and Hardees).
- Closed 24 hours a day April 3 – April 28
- a small section of Hill Street from Bank Street to Young Street.
The city’s Public Works Department is working closely with AUB to review the work areas and will provide detour routing and signage to safely accommodate residents and other traffic with access to nearby homes and businesses as needed.
AUB urges the public to observe all signage and road blocks to help ensure the safety of workers and others.
This work will involve excavations and heavy equipment with large moving parts as well as workers whose focus will be on the job at hand, not errant traffic. Driving around barricades or through a road block could get a worker or the vehicle passengers injured or killed.
-xxx-
