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About Town: Two reasons neighbors are rallying around Scott Street
 
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A lone pickup truck waits on Scott Street to merge onto a busy Poplar Avenue late last year. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)
 

A lone pickup truck waits on Scott Street to merge onto a busy Poplar Avenue late last year. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian file)

Welcome to About Town, where we take a deeper dive into one neighborhood each week while also highlighting the latest news, developments and back stories from Memphis’ neighborhoods. This week’s focus: Binghampton.

The fate of the Scott Street and Poplar Avenue intersection took an interesting turn this past week.

City of Memphis traffic engineer Manny Belen told about 100 attendees at a community meeting Tuesday, April 27, the recommendation to sever Scott Street from Poplar Avenue as part of the Poplar Viaduct redesign isn’t final after all.

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For the full story: City officials open to reversing course on Scott Street closure

City officials also said concerns from Binghampton residents and business owners will be considered before a final decision is made. And the initial recommendation to close the intersection was made primarily for safety reasons, the city reiterated at Tuesday’s meeting. 

The latest developments came during an in-person community meeting at First Baptist Church Broad hosted by four Memphis City Council members and the Binghampton Development Corp. 

The Scott Street/Poplar Avenue connection may be severed as part of a redesign to the Poplar viaduct. This is the viaduct’s old 1920s concrete guard rail. (Jim Weber/Daily Memphian file)

The meeting occurred after an online and paper petition circulated by the BDC opposing the closure gathered more than 2,600 signatures.

So why are neighborhood residents and business owners overwhelmingly against the city’s plan to close the intersection?

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Here are two reasons: The first is not wanting to be cut off from a major roadway. The second is that the first community meeting on this issue occurred 2.5 years after the city’s initial recommendation to close the intersection. That’s arguably caused even more frustration than the actual decision. 

City Councilman Chase Carlisle plans to present a resolution to the council Tuesday, May 4, opposing the city’s recommendation.

He’s hopeful a 13-0 vote on the item will take another step toward securing a compromise that works out for all parties involved. 


Dan Conaway: Opinion: We all need the bridge to Binghampton


Either way, this saga is far from over. 

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