Don't Clog Up The Last Remaining Semi-Unobstructed Route Into Town From North Of The River - And Response (2)

  • Tuesday, May 2, 2017

The proposal to turn Hixson Pike in Riverview into a more pedestrian friendly street is more than absurd.  

Let's be honest. This is the last semi-unobstructed route into town from north of the river, due to I-27 construction and the bike lane/parking lot that is North Market Street.  So, now the businesses in Riverview would like parking on this main artery?

To be frank, that is too bad.  The area has been poorly planned, like every other developer's blank check in this town.  It's time for someone to be the voice of reason.  Unless there are plans for a elevated railway into town, where some people have to go to work and school, stop blocking the existing roads for business interests and ill-conceived notions that we can become a city where everyone rides bicycles to work.  

Between construction projects, potholes the size of small ponds and sheer volume of traffic, it has become a forgone conclusion that driving into the city during working hours will be like some sort of bad game show obstacle course.  Enough.

Darlene Kilgore

* * *

I really don't understand the animosity directed towards pedestrians and cyclists by many people in this town.

Secondly, I think the traffic delays caused by the proposed lane adjustments at the intersection of Hixson Pike and Tremont are being overblown. There is already a bottleneck that occurs just south of this intersection due to Hixson Pike being reduced from four travel lanes to two as it merges into Barton Avenue. All we are talking about here is moving the bottleneck back about 100 yards from the intersection to increase pedestrian safety. 

In addition, your "semi-unobstructed route" goes through our neighborhood. Many of us walk along these narrow sidewalks with cars zooming by at 40-50 mph and push strollers across Hixson Pike to take our children to Riverview Park, dodging cars all the way. If this area was "poorly planned," as you say, we were not the ones who planned it. Why should we put our families in danger so you can get to work 30 seconds faster?

Mike Dial

* * *

I strongly support the sentiments of the writer of the piece entitled “Don’t Clog Up the Last Remaining Semi-Unobstructed Route Into Town From North Of The River”. I feel cyclists and pedestrian traffic is given far much too much weight in “traffic” planning. Please compare the number of cyclists and walkers to the number of automobiles, the latter obviously far out-numbering the former. Hixson Pike is a very important route for cars and trucks to and from south of the river. People on foot and cycles have a responsibility to literally “watch where they are going”, to not get hit by a car and to not get in the way of cars or trucks.

I do not care how it got that way. It does not matter. And, the I-27 construction does not matter. That construction will be going on forever! If the business owners in Riverview want more and better parking they should have thought about that before they put their businesses there. Or, they can buy the property around them and pave the land. It is very selfish of them to expect the thousands of motorists that use that through-fare to bear the cost and inconvenience literally every day to suit their wants and perceived needs. Compare the value of the real-estate in that area north of the river, then throw in the access to GPS. Like the previous writer said,” Let’s be honest,” and not “absurd”.

I vote for doing everything and anything possible to make it easier and safer for car and truck traffic on the Hixson Pike/Veterans Bridge traffic passageway. Then, paint clear bold wide white lines to let cyclists and pedestrians know where they should not be. More street lights might be nice.

Roger Catlin 


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