Projects finished at Concord Park

Construction crews pretty much wrapped up work at the new entrance to The Cove at Concord Park – just in time for the 22nd annual Holiday Festival of Lights.

This week the crews finished the final asphalt surfacing and added the turn-lane striping. All that’s left is to install a guardrail on the nearby access road. The project also included the paving of the overflow parking areas at The Cove, 11808 S. Northshore Dr.

Speaking of the Festival … it kicked off last night and will run daily from 6-9 p.m. through Sunday, Jan. 3 (every day except Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day).

It is free and open to the public though visitors are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for The Love Kitchen, which provides meals, clothing and emergency food packages for the homebound, homeless and unemployed.

Knox County also had crews at Cherokee Park (which is across from the Cove). They tore down the old dock and they’ll begin setting up the poles to replace it in the coming days. We’re not sure how long it will take, but they wanted to begin work now when the water levels are low and not many people are using it. They’re also going to replace the dock across from the Concord Park Par 3 Golf Course.

In addition, crews are going around the parks system, building and installing new entrance signs. It’s been a long time and some of them are starting to look a little rough.

A few other items:

Because of the cold weather and flurries, a lot of the Parks and Recreation folks were doing busy work inside, taking care of important items that they often don’t get a chance to do during the hectic week (cleaning, fixing and sharpening equipment, for example).

That said, they were on standby – along with the folks in the Engineering and the Public Works Department – and ready to pitch in if the county was hit with snow and ice. They also had two trucks outfitted with snow equipment to run trouble spots if necessary. Additionally, the Engineering and Public Works Department brought in 50 percent of its folks at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning to check roads and apply salt wherever needed.

The good thing? There were no major trouble spots and everything ran smoothly.

In other news, the Knox County Public Works and Engineering Department also:

Wood Smith Road – Tree removal
Forest Willow Lane – Full depth reclamation of roadway subgrade as a result of extensive failures
Bracket Road – Final grading with stabilization (completed project from last week’s update)
Hackworth Road – Final asphalt surface, outfall armoring with embankment stabilization (completed project from last week’s update)

The photo carousel features the crews at work for Knox County.