Utility Construction Closes Mack Smith Road

Utility construction will close much of Mack Smith Road on Wednesday, officials said.

According to East Ridge Police Chief J.R. Reed, utility construction will force the closure of the 1500 and 1600 block of the road.

Motorists in the area are advised to seek alternative routes.

The construction is being done by the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority as part of its lateral line replacement program. Lateral lines on private property have been replaced and construction crews are now tying those lines into the sewer under the street.

Officials with WWTA said both lanes in the 1500-1600 block will be closed all day today. However, one lane will be open on Thursday to allow through traffic. Officials said it is anticipated that work on the street will be completed by the end of the week.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.