Sat
May 3 2008
07:32 am
Apocolypse Not?
By: WhitesCreek

I don't go TO Knoxville as much as I go THROUGH Knoxville, and I've been dreading the closing of I 40. So yesterday was my first trip from West to East and back again. I allowed extra time, performed a ritual meditation designed to counteract road rage, and hit the road.

The morning leg went fine, "Yeah, sure," I thought, "Just wait 'til I try to get back through ths mess when the Friday afternoon traffic hits."

Cake! What's up?

It was one of the easiest trips through K-town ever...and on a Friday, no less. Can it be that simply having three lanes all the way through with no bottlenecks or lane changes is the answer?

Or isit just that folks are avoiding Knoxville altogether since they think the traffic will be horrendous?
fletch's picture

Fascinating. I'm also a

Submitted by fletch on Sat, 2008/05/03 - 11:19am.

Fascinating. I'm also a passer-thru'er and in my entire driving life of over 25 years I can't recall going thru downtown on the interstate without major hassles and construction projects going on. Maybe it just was just bad timing over the years.

Pam Strickland's picture

I think there are a

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Sat, 2008/05/03 - 11:32am.

I think there are a combination of things. One is that I think the locals are taking the surface streets as much as possible. Two, T-DOT, really did publicize this thing as much as possible. I remember somebody telling me about it four years ago when I moved back to Tennessee. Three, the three lanes really help.

Of course, we've only had a couple of days so far, it could all go to hell before it's over.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Rachel's picture

Of course, we've only had a

Submitted by Rachel on Sat, 2008/05/03 - 2:00pm.

Of course, we've only had a couple of days so far, it could all go to hell before it's over.

If it doesn't, does that mean we really don't need a huge interstate slicing through the middle of downtown after all?

Pam Strickland's picture

Well, if not for all those

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Sat, 2008/05/03 - 2:17pm.

Well, if not for all those blamed tourists driving through probably not.

And, what I didn't say earlier is that from what various folks have said to me, the surface streets have carried some heavy traffic the last couple of days. Working from home most of the time, I don't have the pleasure of getting out and about everyday, so I can't say first-hand.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Brian A.'s picture

I notice they have a sign

Submitted by Brian A. on Sun, 2008/05/04 - 12:03am.

I notice they have a sign nearly 50 miles south of Knoxville on 75. I'm not exactly sure why motorists need alerting that far away. Are they supposed to find an alternative route to avoid Knoxville altogether?

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

mjw's picture

Try Georgia

Submitted by mjw on Sun, 2008/05/04 - 1:49am.

The news reported that they were going to have warning signs up as far south as Georgia and probably in some of the other surrounding states as well. I can see that if you are headed to Chicago from Atlanta, you might decide to take I-24 to Nashville and go up I-65 instead of I-75. Closer in I'd say it's more about making sure someone sees a sign somewhere before they get to town so that they aren't surprised and have to suddenly get to the 640 exit from the left hand lane in traffic.

Also, that seems to be the new thing, warning well in advance. I was driving to Atlanta the day that bus went off a bridge onto I-75, and I saw notices from GDOT before I even got to Dalton.

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