Everett, Depot utility work continues

Jessica Webb

editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com

There was plenty of scraping, beeping and other construction sounds reverbating as Town Manager Sam Pattillo met with a handful of business owners on the porch of Anthony’s Pizza Tuesday morning for a weekly update on the town’s utility work downtown.

The work has closed Everett Street between Mitchell and Depot since the beginning of August to replace crumbling sewer lines and upgrade water connections ahead of North Carolina Department of Transportation’s plans for intersection improvements and repaving.

Although they had hoped to finish this section by mid-September, originally, the extent of the work has stretched the timeline, which is now looking like it will be later in October before it is finished. Boring and casement under the railroad caused some of the delays.

Pattillo estimated that by the end of the week, however, they are looking to open up that section for traffic to flow through one lane while testing and sewer hook-ups continue.

Upcoming, in about 2 weeks, work will move to the north side of the railroad tracks, on down toward the intersection with Bryson Walk. That work will involve water hook-ups, with Pattillo saying the town will communicate with the businesses and work with their schedules.

The last piece will be work on Depot Street in front of Anthony’s on a line in the center of the road, but that is more limited work that, if it goes as planned and they don’t uncover any issues underground, should take a just a few days.

The group on Tuesday discussed how traffic would have to be rerouted around the Bryson Walk intersection when work begins on the north side of the tracks. Pattillo said there’s a plan to direct some of that traffic down Bryson Branch, connecting up with Fontana Road near the high school.

The biggest challenge the group Tuesday morning discussed was how many rides the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad has each day in October, and how there is a brief set of time during each ride that blocks off traffic from rerouting from Depot through Collins and Ramseur.

Katie Cope, who owns Southbound, said the biggest concern will be trying to keep those roads open, particularly for trailer traffic to Deep Creek.

Pattillo agreed, saying, “it’s the timing piece you’re going to run into.”

They agreed getting more clarity on the exact times of when those thru roads would be closed off and for how long would be key.

Also, Pattillo said they would work on pedestrian signage toward the businesses on that side of town when work begins there.

The next utility update will again be at Anthony’s on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m.