Once again there is discussion of building an "Alcoa Parkway" to allow drivers to avoid a 3 1/2 mile section of Alcoa Highway. The 2007 estimated cost for this "parkway" is over $64 million, whereas the redesign of this section of Alcoa Highway with better turn lanes and traffic signals is approximately 1/2 million dollars.

Do we really need to pave Alcoa? Do we really need a 5 mile 6 lane interstate through Alcoa? Oh, my bad, it is a "parkway". Doesn't that sound pleasant?

There is no need to make Alcoa a parking lot so commuters can go 3 1/2 miles very quickly only to be stopped by the traffic light managed Hall Road (35 mph) or Alcoa Hwy bypass (US 129/State Road 133).

I'm pretty sure travelers can find the new "Downtown Alcoa" without this 6 lane albatross. Wouldn't it be nice if the section of Alcoa Highway from Singleton Station Road to Hunt Road/Hall Road was made a well managed boulevard? How long does it now take to get from Singleton Station Road to Hunt Road/Hall Road? 2-3 minutes? Okay, so there have been frequent accidents on Alcoa Highway, wouldn't it be more beneficial to redesign the existing road (better managed access) than to pave Alcoa to avoid this minor stretch of road?

Have you seen the section of Alcoa they are planning to pave? Lots of green space, including a golf course. The new "parkway" will be on the edge of the most historical neighborhood and park in the City of Alcoa, Springbrook. Won't that be pleasant? Just what those hard working, middle-class citizens need, more traffic noise and pollution. How about it if we encourage planned development with continued greenspace requirements and managed roads without an interstate through Alcoa.

Let's think about this people. Are you with me? We do not need the "Alcoa Parkway".

What are your thoughts?

By way of Rachel at KnoxViews, this meeting will include a discussion of Hall Rd. and Washington St.

You're invited to the public presentation of the Knoxville Regional TPO's Complete Streets Study , at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, in the Knox County Health Department's Community Room, 140 Dameron Ave.

The evening will include a presentation of the study and an opportunity for discussion and brainstorming about how the Complete Streets concept can be applied in the Knoxville region.

TDOT has published an October 2008 newsletter for the Pellissippi Parkway Extension Project.

Decisions:

Alternatives that will be carried forward and evaluated in detail in the Draft Environment Impact Statement (DEIS):

• No build
• Extend using Alternative A (formerly Corridor A)
• Extend using Alternative C (formerly Corridor C)
• Alternative D - Upgrade two-lane network (formerly Corridor D)

Alternatives dismissed from further consideration, failed to substantially address the transportation needs and purpose and need of the project:

• Public transit
• Transportation System Management
• Extend using Corridor B

Field studies are currently being conducted, through November 2008.

The Blount County TPO Regional Mobility Plan 2035 meeting was held at the library. There were eighteen attendees and three presenters. Jeff Welch and Amy Brooks were two of the three representatives from Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO). At least four of the attendees were either local government employees or press. At least one representative of CAPPE was in attendance.

The first half was a slide-show presentation regarding the function of TPO, the areas they cover, previous meeting participant action items, area growth, and principles (e.g. preserve and manage).

SAVE IT, DON’T PAVE IT!
A benefit concert for CAPPE

Friday, Sept. 5, 7-11pm at The Shed

Performers in order of appearance:

Maggie Longmire & Free Soil Farm

Maggie has a terrific reputation as a member of Knoxville band Lonesome Coyotes. With Free Soil Farm you’ll hear Maggie and friends and a new repertoire of original material.

Jay Clark and the CC Stringband

Jay is a talented singer-songwriter-guitarist and long-time friend of CAPPE. Jay will be joined by the CC Stringband.

The Lonetones

The Lonetones bring tender harmonies and fine lyrics to their original mountain music.

The Bearded

The Bearded an old time string and rhythm band. They played to a full house at Maryville’s Tomato Head recently.

Admission is $10 at the gate.

Food and beverages will available for purchase.

Bring folding chairs and enjoy a night of great music!

We look forward to seeing you on Friday, Sept. 5 at The Shed!

The Shed is located adjacent to Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson & Buell (SMHD) on US 321 in Maryville, Tennessee. The Shed is an outdoor, covered pavilion with a full service restaurant that serves lunch and dinner on event days.

CAPPE (Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension, Inc.) is a state chartered non-profit organization.

We formed CAPPE in 2002 in response to a proposal to build a new 4-lane interstate highway through some of Blount County’s remaining agricultural land and the lower Little River valley. CAPPE members include farmers, professionals, educators, lawyers, blue collar workers, realtors, builders, musicians, artists, homemakers, small business owners, retirees and college students.

We believe this highway is not needed, wastes state resources, and will have negative impacts on the area along the route and on the quality of life in Blount County as a whole. We raised money through events and donations and hired an environmental attorney who helped us file a federal lawsuit charging the state Department of Transportation with failing to complete the required Environmental Impact Statement.

TDOT is now working on the EIS and CAPPE is continuing to monitor the process and participate in all public input opportunities. We have also provided TDOT with sensible alternative solutions to our local transportation needs (which will be exacerbated, not solved, by the proposed new 4-lane highway).

To read more about CAPPE, please visit www.discoveret.org/cappe

Via KnoxViews, the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization is holding a series of workshops to get public input on the region's long range transportation plan.

The TPO also has an online survey regarding priorities for the long range plan. Following are the workshop schedules:

They are holding Regional Mobility Plan 2035 Public Workshops.

The Blount County workshop will be at the Blount County Public Library, Wednesday, June 4. Meetings begin at 6 p.m. unless noted otherwise, and should last about an hour.

Daily Times

The Blount County Planning Commission wants to keep a scaled-down variant of the controversial Southern Loop proposal on the drawing board.

During a special called meeting on Tuesday, planning commissioners indicated that they wanted to keep the proposal for a two-lane bypass around the cities of Alcoa and Maryville in the text of the county Policies Plan.

Planners let it slip in a recent TDOT public hearing on the Pellissippi Parkway Extension that local traffic congestion improvements would only be realized if the southern loop is completed.

Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension explain the problem:

According to TDOT’s traffic studies, the PPE will produce marginal and short-lived improvements to traffic conditions on a few roads, and within 20 years even these limited improvements will have disappeared.

Becky White, whose firm did the traffic analysis for TDOT, said that this projection assumes the Southern Loop and other proposed new roads will be built.

[..]

Tell TDOT that they need to do credible traffic studies of the impact of the PPE on our existing road system – the road system that will be in place when the PPE is in use. Until this is done there is no objective data supporting the assertion that the PPE will alleviate traffic congestion anywhere in the cities or the county.

In other words, if the southern loop (for which other more desirable alternatives have been identified) is phased out of regional transportation plans, the PPE cannot be justified on the basis of relieving traffic congestion.

Decisions by the Knoxville Regional TPO influence TDOT planning and affect Blount County. They are seeking input for their long range plan. Go fill out this short survey.

Maryville Daily Times

More than 500 people packed the auditorium at Heritage High School Tuesday evening for a public meeting on the proposed extension of the Pellissippi Parkway.

Knoxville News Sentinel

Supporters and opponents of the proposed Pellissippi Parkway Extension jammed the auditorium at Heritage High School Tuesday night for a public hearing on one of the most contentious issues facing Blount County.

WBIR

A standing-room-only crowd of several hundred people flooded Heritage High School's auditorium Tuesday night for the latest details on a proposed Pellissippi Parkway expansion project.

If you did not get to ask your question or submit your comment last night, here is the person to contact at TDOT:

Michael W. Russell, P.E.
TDOT
7345 Region Lane
Knoxville, TN 37914

or

P.O. Box 58
Knoxville, TN 37901

Phone: 865.594.2334
Email: Mike.Russell@state.tn.us

The Pellissippi Parkway Extension is a done deal. The heads of the five families (Blount Co. Mayor, Maryville Mayor, Maryville City Manager, Alcoa Mayor, and Alcoa City Manager) all support it. A massive Chamber of Commerce turnout arrived in Mercedes Benz and wool suits to support it. They are well organized, and shouted down the "antis" at several points.

We're here, will try to live blog if battery and broadband connections hold up and I can work this keyboard all scrunched over.

CAPPE (Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension, Inc.) members are preparing for the upcoming TDOT meeting on October 25 at Heritage High School from 5-8pm. For initial analysis, see below. For background, see Link...

Also worth noting is that TDOT gave less than 3 weeks notice for this meeting, in violation of their own policy to provide 30 days notice for all public meetings. See Link...

At the Oct. 25 meeting TDOT will present the ‘Purpose and Need’ for the PPE as well as ‘initial alternatives.’ The public will have opportunities to comment on the Purpose and Need and the alternatives. Written comments can be sent to TDOT for 21 days after the Oct. 25 meeting.

A 9/30/07 letter to the editor in The Daily Times proposed using remote parking lots and shuttle buses to Maryville High School as an alternative to paving over the neighborhood surrounding the high school in order to expand the school's capacity.

While I respect this forward-thinking transportation solution, I think we need to refocus the conversation. I am dismayed that we are talking about transportation solutions before education solutions. We need to pull these issues apart.

We exhaust ourselves planning for our cars. We seem unable to separate conceptually human beings from the steel that transports them. We conflate cars and citizenship, and we build communities that require people to have access to cars in order to fully participate in the community. We plan as if hospitality to cars in our downtowns or high schools or neighborhoods is the same as hospitality to people.

The truth is that too often we build spaces and host activities that aren't worth much of a commitment. We'll only participate or shop or eat when it is easy...when the commitment requires little more than the time it takes to navigate our cars through drive-through windows or into curbside pick-up spaces.

On the other hand, there are spaces and activities that are worth our commitment, and we participate even if car access isn't easy. We figure out how to get there because we want to be there. As a community we need to focus on building spaces and hosting activities worth caring about...worth committing to. Transportation to those spaces and activities will follow.

Let's make the Maryville High School expansion discussion about education. When we figure out the best way(s) to educate our children, there will be myriad ways of dealing with transportation. The transportation solution should follow and fit the education solution.