Updated: 6/30/2009 1:41:21 AM
Flood-prone Mitchell Street in Knoxville reopened early Friday afternoon after a week-long closure. But city engineers say there is no easy remedy for the clogged sinkholes that cause the street to flood.
"The problem is a matter of Mother Nature's system no longer working," said Brent Johnson, Deputy Director of Engineering for the City of Knoxville. "She spent thousands of years making that system work and now it's clogged and we're going to have to find a solution."
The system in question is a series of natural sinkholes that normally drain water in East Knoxville. The sinkhole at the Cherry Street exit off I-40 is no longer functioning and has backed up water to Mitchell Street. Further complicating matters is the fact that the sinkholes are on state property while the flood-prone street is the city's responsibility.
"The city and the state are working together to basically solve this issue that neither of us can solve independently," said Johnson. "We'll keep working to find a permanent solution, but there are no inexpensive temporary solutions right now."
The state used trucks to pump the stagnant water out of Mitchell Street early Friday afternoon and haul it away. When the road is closed, many vehicles cut through the Weigel's parking lot to avoid the soggy section of Mitchell Street. That includes heavy trucks from several trucking companies located on Mitchell Street.
"It's just an annoyance over at 'Lake Mitchell'," said Greg Gentry, general manager of Gentry Trailways. "I just tell everyone I know if you want to go swimming I know where to go, get the floats out. Put up a 'no fishing' sign and stock it with fish."
"It's kind of bad," said Mitchell Street resident Alex Flores. "All of the traffic cutting through Weigel's, especially at certain times of the day, it gets to be a real mess. You either have cars trying to drive through the water and getting stuck with wet sparkplugs or they are cramming into the parking lot."
Enough drivers have ignored the warnings that the city has placed a measuring stick on a utility pole in the flooded area to show drivers how deep the water is.
"If you can't see the asphalt, do not drive through the road," said Johnson. "But we know people are driving through the water no matter what we do. Therefore we have at least posted a sign so they'll know the depth of the water."
Weigel's officials said its parking lot is deteriorating with the additional traffic cutting through. It has also expressed concerns to the city about potential safety issues with increased traffic speeding through its lot.
"We've heard those concerns and remind people to use public detours we set up," said Johnson. "With traffic cutting through their [Weigel's] parking lot, remember this is private property and they shouldn't do that."
"I just wish someone could do something to alleviate it for good," said Johnson. "It always sounds like the state's problem, then the city's problem, or they both have a problem and we still have 'Lake Mitchell.'"
