OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — For years, the U.S. government intended for people not to find Oak Ridge.
Now, they are. And the rush is on to keep up with the amount of traffic moving into the city every day.
"You've got people waiting 20, 30, 40 minutes just to get from the interstate to Y-12," said Patrick Berge, the Public Works Director for Oak Ridge.
In a presentation to the Knoxville Transportation Planning Organization Dr. Mark Watson, who has since retired as the city manager, showed members the traffic backups in Oak Ridge every day. Between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., traffic slows to a crawl on Edgemoor Road, one of the main arteries into Oak Ridge.
For people entering Oak Ridge from North Knox County or Anderson County, Edgemoor Road is the preferred path, though it's only a two-lane road.
"The traffic flows into the city are the same we've had for 30 years," Berge said. "Your primary entrances are coming through Edgemoor Road and Solway. That is causing greater and greater backups."
Sean Gleason is an Oak Ridge City Councilmember who lives off Edgemoor. Gleason said a 12-minute trip inside the city can take 25-30 minutes during rush hour.
"We need to widen that road, we need to widen the bridge that feeds into Anderson County," Gleason said.
Berge said the city is proposing widening Edgemoor Road to handle more of the traffic coming into Oak Ridge. He said, however, current plans wouldn't have that project complete until 2035.
Now, he said, Oak Ridge is working with surrounding counties and TDOT to accelerate the widening of that road.