TDOT has updated their web page a little after the public meeting held June 20th to update the public on the status of the Alcoa Highway, SR 115, Knox and Blount Counties, improvement project. They added a short video narrated by Mark Nagi, TDOT Region 1 Community Relations Officer, previously of WATE.

According to TDOT, the schedule for future project phases (right-of-way acquisition and construction) will be determined based on identification of funding. Refer to the project public involvement and library web page for details. According to the Environmental Assessment document (page 1-6), the segment from Maloney Road to Woodson Drive is state funded, whereas the other three segments are federally funded. Will any of it actually be funded? Will only certain portions be funded leaving Alcoa Highway a worse mess than it already is?


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TDOT states "the project is needed to increase traffic capacity and level of service to meet current and future needs, traffic is anticipated to increase along the route by as much as 49% by 2040". Even though traffic has actually decreased on Alcoa Highway from the highest activity. Peak traffic on Alcoa Highway at Topside Road (Knox County) was in 1991 at 53,879 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT).The number in 2012 was 49,250. Peak traffic just south of UT Hospital was in 1996 at 52,828 AADT versus 2012 it was 43,415.

The project is proposing:

• Six lanes for the majority of Alcoa Highway.
• Eight lanes in Blount County from Topside Road to Singleton Station Road.
• A concrete median barrier for the entire project area, like already exists from Woodson Drive to the Naval-Marine base in Knox County.
• All left turns would be eliminated, right turns would be allowed at existing locations.
• Interchanges would be used to facilitate left turns. Existing interchanges include John Sevier Highway and Cherokee Trail (at UT Hospital). Five new interchanges would be added, three in Blount County (Singleton Station Road, Hillside Drive/Lakemont Drive, Topside Road) and two in Knox County (Topside Road and Maloney Road).
• A series of frontage and collector roads will carry traffic adjacent to Alcoa Highway, including a frontage road connecting Hillside Drive and Lakemont Drive in Blount County and connector roads between Ginn Road and Woodson Drive.
• The project will require approximately 128 acres of right-of-way, including some land at the Marine Park (next to the Naval-Marine base) and I.C. King Park. It will displace approximately 46 residences (21 single family homes, four mobile homes, and 21 tenants in two apartment buildings) and 24 businesses.

There is no doubt that corrections need to be made to make Alcoa Highway safer. My questions are when and are they proposing the best solution?