Haslam in Lenoir City to Discuss Region's Transportation and Infrastructure Needs

Governor visiting 15 communities to hear about local opportunities and challenges

LENOIR CITY – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Commissioner John Schroer sat down with local and state officials in Lenoir City today to discuss the region’s transportation and infrastructure needs.

In an afternoon meeting at the War Memorial Building, Haslam and Schroer discussed the functionality and capacity of Tennessee’s state roads and highways, safety issues around roads and bridges, and the impact infrastructure has on economic development efforts in urban and rural communities.

Tennessee’s transportation system includes 95,000 miles of roads, 1,100 miles of interstates, 19,000 bridges, 28 transit systems in 95 counties, 79 general aviation airports, 949 miles of waterways and more than 3,000 miles of railroads.

“The quality of Tennessee’s transportation and infrastructure system always ranks at or near the top when compared to the rest of the country,” Haslam said. “We have no transportation debt, and we do a great job maintaining our roads, but we know we have challenges on the horizon. We know that we can’t depend on the federal government to be the funding partner that it once was.  We also know that as our infrastructure ages, maintenance becomes more important and more expensive.  And we know that maintaining our roads is only part of the equation.  Right now we have a multi-billion dollar backlog of highway projects across this state that address key access, safety and economic development issues, and that’s only going to grow.”

A 2015 Tennessee Comptroller’s report on transportation funding states that revenues are not expected to be sufficient to maintain current infrastructure.

Cars are more fuel-efficient, construction and labor costs have risen, and Congress hasn’t passed a long-term transportation funding bill in a decade. Tennessee’s population is expected to grow by 2 million by 2040, which puts a greater demand on the state’s infrastructure.

“TDOT is responsible for taking care of the assets we already have, for implementing current projects in the most cost-effective way, and for planning for the state’s infrastructure needs of the future,” Schroer said. “We look to Tennessee communities to help prioritize projects to make sure we’re addressing evolving traffic patterns, population growth, safety issues, and the many other things that impact our infrastructure, and these conversations are invaluable to the process.” 

Since 2010 TDOT has invested $101 million state dollars on first and last mile road projects serving industrial expansion and recruitment helping to create nearly 29,000 jobs for 108 companies in Tennessee.

Funded primarily by state and federal gas taxes, TDOT gets no money from the General Fund. Funding uncertainty from the Federal Highway Trust Fund forced TDOT to delay $400 million in highway projects in 2015.

TDOT officials discussed the cost of several projects in the region:

-The existing bridge over the Emory River along SR-29 in Roane County was built in 1957 and will likely need replacing within the next 10 years at an estimated cost of $14.5 million.

-Also in Roane County, a 5.1 mile section of SR-1 from Rockwood to Midtown is currently under development in the form of two projects. The section from east of Kingston Avenue to SR-382 is in the right-of-way phase of development, and the section from SR-382 to Midtown is in the preliminary engineering phase. The estimated cost of completion is $40.1 million.

-In Lenoir City, a 1.5 mile section of SR-73 (US 321) is currently under development in the form of two projects which are both in the preliminary engineering phase of development. The first section is a widening project from Simpson Street to SR-2 (US 11), and the second would improve the intersection of SR-73 (US 321) and SR-2 (US 11). The estimated cost of completion is $14.7 million.

-In Morgan County, a 9.7 mile section of SR-29 from Harriman to Wartburg is currently under development. This corridor is broken up into four projects. The section from SR-61 in Harriman to south of Whetstone Road is currently under construction. The right-of-way process is complete from south of Whetstone Road to north of SR-328 and is awaiting construction funding. The third section, from north of SR-328 to Ray Cross Road, is currently in the right-of-way phase of development. The final section from north of Ray Cross Road to SR-62 in Wartburg is in the preliminary engineering phase of development. The estimated cost of completion is $100 million.

-The widening of SR-115 (Alcoa Highway) in Knox and Blount counties has seven projects under development at this time. Improvements along this 12.5 mile corridor are being implemented to address congestion and safety related issues from Knoxville to McGhee-Tyson Airport. The estimated cost of completion is $287 million.

Lenoir City, and Knoxville earlier today, mark the final stops on Haslam’s 15-city tour to discuss Tennessee’s transportation and infrastructure needs. Over the past few weeks, he has visited Memphis, Clarksville, Jackson, Nashville, Franklin, Kingsport, Greeneville, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Crossville, Union City, Chattanooga and Cleveland.  

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