TDOT’s open house sheds more light on pending plan
A crowd of Farragut and other West Knox County residents braved the cold and flurries to learn more about and give input on Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Interstate I-40/I-75 West Knoxville Corridor Planning and Environmental Linkages Study at TDOT’s open house in Farragut Community Center Monday, Nov. 10.
“I’m excited about this project because we need some help, from the I-75 and I-40 split, all the way to I-640,” Don Mann of Farragut said.
“Right now, (THP) is soliciting feedback from the public,” Town engineer Darryl Smith said. “It’s important that the public provides that feedback so they can help identify all the deficiencies.”
He urged residents to “make a comment.”
Similar public open house meetings are taking place from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, at Pellissippi State Community College in J.L. Goins Administration building and Student Center, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, and from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 13, in City of Knoxville Public Works Service Center Community Room, 3131 Morris Ave., Knoxville.
While at the open house, residents, joined by Town and state officials, had the opportunity to listen to a brief, recorded presentation then peruse the maps and other displays.
“This is the I-40/I-75 West Knoxville Corridor (Planning and Environmental Linkages) Study,” said Mark Nagi, TDOT Region 1 communication officer, said regarding TDOT’s reason for the open house. “What we’re trying to do is look at the different ways we can improve this corridor.
“This is a 17-mile stretch, which goes from the I-75 interchange in Loudon County all the way to the I-640 interchange in Knox County,” he added. “The purpose of this study is to look for ways to enhance the movement of freight in these areas; it’s to improve travel time for folks who are trying to get to and from their destinations; it’s to accommodate for current and future travel patterns.
“We’re also looking at improvements in terms of congestion,” Nagi said. “We see so much congestion along this corridor.
However, “the most important thing here is to improve safety,” he added. “We’ve had so many people who have moved into East Tennessee over the past 10, 20 years. You know, the secret’s kind of out about what a great place this is to live.
“But, the down side of that is that everyone is bringing their own vehicle,” Nagi
said. “So, our transportation network obviously needs to have some adjustments to be able to accommodate all the people who have moved into our area and the increased traffic that we have here, and that’s a big reason why we’re doing what we’re doing right now.”
Already, TDOT also has related some existing design deficiencies in the corridor:
• Acceleration lanes are too short — drivers cannot reach appropriate speeds and have difficulty merging.
• Bridge clearance is less than 16.5 feet, restricting permitted over-height commercial and military vehicle movements and creating increased risk of bridge strikes.
• Curve radius is too small, creating potential for lane departures and overturned trucks.
• Interchange spacing: there is insufficient distance between interchanges, creating choke point with reduced space for weaving and slowing down traffic flow.
“I’d like to see the core problems fixed,” Mayor Ron Williams said in reference to traffic and stormwater drainage.
He pointed out the flooding along areas near the interstate, such the pooling occurring at the North Campbell Station interchange, as well as the area near McKay’s books along Weisgarber, which also floods when there is rain, and a “puddle” at Lovell Road.
“You ever see that picture of that woman standing on that mini van where it was underneath the (North) Campbell Station exit?” Williams asked. “Don’t you think that needs to be fixed when it floods?
“We’ve got a lot of flooding going on, not only in our Town, but when you go across the whole 17, 18 miles through there — Cedar Bluff, they’ve got flooding there,” the mayor said. “Everywhere you go along this corridor, you’ve got flooding. That needs to be fixed.
“Everybody thinks this is a road study, but it’s an environmental study,” he said. “That’s where the money
came from in order to do the study, so there’s a little bit of misconception about this.”
Some of the improvements being considered are a choice lane and moving the weight scales.
“I guess, additional lanes are the way to do it,” Mann suggested as an improvement. “There’s just too much
traffic — two interstates jumbled together. They really should be separated,
but I don’t think they can do that now.
“But if they can add some lanes, do something with the exits to help traffic flow better, that would be awesome,” he added. “It’s a mess right now, as you know.”
“I’ve already learned an awful lot about the fact that sound walls that are very necessary in this corridor on the other side of the battery are part of the Region 1 TDOT project,” Farragut resident Kim Frasch said. “They don’t want to have anything to do with sound walls until the actual construction is decided upon, and the residents all need help with the tremendous amount of noise that we’re getting from the traffic, the trucks and the weigh stations.
He understands “moving the weigh stations is part of what’s going to happen, but the sound walls, in my experience working with the city of Atlanta … were always a separate issue.”
He advised sound walls should be considered going in the plans before the construction “so the residents not only didn’t see it going in but were protected from the noise.”
“I would like to see the interstate widened from Watt Road to the split, and I’d like to see the weigh stations moved to get that traffic flowing so we don’t have any more accidents and people keep moving onto Kingston Pike,” Farragut Municipal Planning Commissioner Louise Povlin said.
Regarding the widening, she said the corridor needs a fourth travel lane on each side.
“It’s a lot of planning, a lot of good information, but even when all this gets done, if it gets done, the biggest cause of the problem we have on the interstates is people speeding and people’s disregard for safety,” Farragut resident Jeanne Brykalsky said. “We need more (Tennessee Highway Patrol) out there; we need more (Knox County) Sheriff’s officers and police officers to help make people realize that they can’t just do whatever they want to do because they’re in a hurry.
“But, I think this is a great start,” she said. “However, I’m afraid by the time they get all their studies done and by the time they get finished, it’s already going to be outdated.”
