As mentioned by TDOT officals at Tuesday's meeting, the proposed Alcoa Parkway/bypass is one phase of several projects to improve Alcoa Highway all the way to I-40 in Knoxville.

The section in Knox County from Maloney Rd. north to Montlake Dr. is also scheduled for improvement, and in fact is a little farther along. The Environmental Assessment has been approved and some right-of-way acquisition has begun, although construction is a long way off.

There are remarkable similarities between this stretch of Alcoa Highway and the Airport/Motor Mile project area - dangerous intersections, commercial development close to the highway, congestion, and problems with speeding and fatal accidents. One difference is the amount of commercial truck traffic from Airbase Rd. and some light industrial on the other side.

A reader sent some documents and drawings accumulated as part of a neighborhood history project that detail the Maloney Rd./Montlake Dr. improvements, which are summarized as thus:

...a partial access control facility to improve safety and efficiency for traffic movement from just south of Maloney Rd. to north of Montlake Dr. with minimum interference. The proposed improvements are designed to eliminate left turns on and off Alcoa Highway. In addition, no median openings will be constructed, and for this project three bridges over Alcoa are proposed. The design speed is 50 mph.

The proposed improvements to the corridor will include three 12-feet traffic lanes in each direction, a twelve-foot outside shoulder for each traffic direction, and a median with a concrete barrier, thereby requiring a 138-feet proposed right of way.

A more detailed description can be found here.

The project is currently listed on the TDOT/TPO Long Range Transportation plan with a cost of approx. $30 million.

Here's a simplified drawing of the proposed improvements:

This plan could almost be lifted and dropped right on the Airport section of Alcoa Highway to solve the problems that a proposed bypass would address. In fact, it appears to be exactly what this section of road needs at less than one-third the cost with little or no environmental or community impact.