Could Knoxville road crews make your kid late to school?

Very likely! My kids go to Sterchi Elementary, accessible by just a few roads in Fountain City. A short while ago, Knoxville decided it would re-pave the roads in my neighborhood, and during the morning drop-off period, actually blocked several of those entrances.

Why did they wait until the first week of school to block a major portal to an elementary school? Why didn't they notify the parents? Or the school? We'll probably never know, because there appears to be no accountability. Just parents risking their lives careening around giant trucks who surprised them at 7:30am on a Tuesday morning. I feel worst for the kindergarten students, many of whose parents must have wondered what the heck was going on.

So this morning I was enjoying the newly-paved roads, dropped off my kids at exactly 7:30am and proceeded to head back to my house via Pilleaux Drive. Unfortunately, on my way in I noticed a "small" (like Ford F-250 or so) utility truck working on a fire hydrant. On my way out this truck, which had been parked on Snowden, was joined by a huge dump truck, which proceeded to block the incoming lane on Pilleaux. During a very busy time of drop off.

There were no flag men. Just a giant truck in the road, no workmen who gave a damn, and a parade of parents both trying to get TO work and TO school to drop off their kids. Even with a flag man this would be a huge issue, as children could be late (as could parents).

I've spoken to a couple of parents who called to complain, but no one within the City of Knoxville appears to give a rat's ass. Which I take to mean our utility repairs are more important than our citizens and our youngest public school students.

Bravo, Knoxville!

Quick fix is simple, but one government will be unlikely to implement: it's called common sense.

When planning morning road work, look on a map to see if you will be blocking school entrances. If YES, wait until, say, 8 AM. That's the standard starting time for schools in Knox County, yes? This isn't a big mystery, is it? Seems like a simple fix, yeah?

It'll never happen.