Due to my MIL being hospitalized at UTMC, I'm traveling that very stretch of road on SB Alcoa Highway to John Sevier Highway at least once a day, sometimes twice. One recent evening, I told my wife that, due to backed-up traffic on EB John Sevier Highway between Maryville Pike and Martin Mill Pike, I was gonna exit Alcoa Highway at Maloney Road and bypass the logjam on JSH. I thought that I would be able to access Maloney Road right at that intersection. Much to my surprise, the new continuous concrete barrier extends right through the intersection. I was dumbfounded.

To think that one must exit SB Alcoa Highway all the way back at Montlake Road in order to access Maloney Road seems ridiculous. I will agree that all of the improvements have made this stretch of road safer, but, by isolating the commercial enterprises with frontage roads designed in this manner, it is likely that a large number of these businesses will not survive.

Maybe when the project is completely wrapped up, there will be enough signage in place to alert the traveling public where they need to exit the highway to access these places.

I have doubts that there will be adequate room to post such signage.

The Alcoa Highway Corridor Study found that the high volume of traffic traveling at higher speeds makes access to businesses dangerous. Few of the businesses could rely on getting enough customers traveling between downtown Knoxville and the airport or Maryville to stop. I know that I almost never stopped at a business along pre-reconstruction Alcoa Highway because it was, quite frankly, terrifying. That's why the consensus reflected in the study focuses on businesses that serve area residents instead of commuters.

The problem is, that part of Knoxville and Knox County is sparsely populated, relative to other corridors -- not enough roofs in the area, as they say. Businesses have said they need more residents living close by -- higher density -- to make meaningful commercial development viable.

The plan encourages more apartment developments along the frontage roads. As you might expect, the early attempts to develop apartments have been opposed by many area residents. And, of course, there's the problem of higher density developments dumping even more traffic on Alcoa Highway. I would hate to be a planner trying to deal with the whole situation (which is one of many reasons, I guess, that I'm not a planner).

CVS on Alcoa Hwy. is closing Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Now there is only Volunteer Veterinary Hospital and the liquor store. I hope Volunteer Vet can hold on. They are the best.