KINGSPORT — Beginning Monday, the City of Kingsport will be closing three streets in connection to various improvement projects, with the length of closures varying from about two weeks to up to one year.
The closures will affect West Valley Drive, Sullivan Street and Cleek Road.
West Valley Drive will be closed for up to two weeks due to continuing sewer line construction work in the Rock Springs area. The section of Sullivan Street affected will be from Sequoyah Drive to Revere Street with the closure expected to last about 3 months.
The overall project aims to improve the Clinchfield Street/Sullivan Street intersection, roughly one block on either side of the intersection. Crews will rebuild and widen the intersection to three lanes, removing some of the older water lines and installing new water lines across Sullivan at Roller Street.
City officials say Clinchfield Street will be open throughout the construction project, with at least one lane available in each direction, excluding some temporary closures for utility construction.
Public Works Director Ryan McReynolds said the initial work will involve the installation of new storm drains and water lines, while later work will inolve removing and rebuilding the roadway structure with a concrete road. The road will include 10-foot travel lanes and an 11-foot center lane.
This phase of work also calls for an 8-foot-wide mobility path along the north side of Sullivan and a sidewalk on the south side.
Eventually, Kingsport aims to widen and improve Sullivan Street from near Church Circle to Lynn Garden Drive and earlier this year the Board of Mayor and Aldermen made the project a top priority among the city’s road projects over the next five years.
The most significant closure among the three roads will be Cleek Road from Orebank Road to Stone Drive, a closure city officials say could be for up to one year while crews work to better realign the road with Orebank Road.
Last year, Kingsport wrapped up the first phase of improvements to Cleek Road, the bulk of which involved adding turn lanes to the intersection at Stone Drive, widening a portion of the roadway with some slight realignment and adding sidewalks. The $1.17 million project also affected a small portion of New Beason Well Road to Fire Station No. 8.
This second phase picks up from the first curve on Cleek Road to Orebank Road and includes widening Cleek Road, replacing the bridge over Reedy Creek, adding curbing, gutters and some sidewalks along with a tunnel for a future extension of the Kingsport Greenbelt. Once complete, the new road would go behind the house at the corner of Cleek and Orebank, and a four-way intersection would be created at Lamberth Street.
City officials say each project, though inconvenient during construction, is designed to offer improved services and safer traveling conditions for the motorists in Kingsport. In each instance, detour signs will be clearly posted in advance of these closures and motorists are asked to plan ahead and use the utmost caution in work zones.