Approx. 100 people including residents, local government, and TDOT officials attended the Nov. 9 TDOT public meeting on the proposed Alcoa Bypass/parkway project. Following is our report with a summary of the public comments.

From reviewing the maps, the project could conceivably remove hundreds of acres of land from the tax rolls as well as negatively impact future growth of Rockford and Alcoa in the proposed area.

The proposed parkway could negatively impact, at a minimum, the Springbrook neighborhood and park in Alcoa as well as the Cedar Hill and Glenmore Estates neighborhoods in Rockford. There will possibly be many businesses in the area that will be negatively affected, including Pine Lakes Golf Course that has been on Singleton Station Road for nearly 40 years. Noise pollution will be a particularly important issue as well as property values.

The Cedar Hill neighborhood off Cusick Road has approximately 113 homes. There is a mobile home park right next to Cedar Hill with nearly 100 homes. The Glenmore neighborhood off Singleton Station Road has over 70 homes. Then the historic Springbrook neighborhood, designed in the 1920's as one of Tennessee's first planned communities, has over 300 homes as well as one of the most beautiful city parks in the region.

There were approximately 100 attendees at the meeting. TDOT's presentation was short, no more than thirty minutes. Then in the questions and answer session, nineteen participants stood up to ask questions: three local mayors, one chamber of commerce representative, one Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) representative, three business owners (two of which were car dealers), and eleven concerned citizens.

Based on our review of remarks by the nineteen participants, six were against the project, seven were concerned about the impact, three did not state an opinion, and three were for the project. The most prevalent concerns were safety and environment impact on the community (e.g. noise pollution, property values).

The meeting was to primarily discuss the proposed Alcoa Parkway/Bypass project. Other areas of concern were not a part of this meeting, including the existing Alcoa Highway. According to TDOT, the existing Alcoa Highway will be turned over to the City of Alcoa for maintenance and development. There were no plans forthcoming on what, if anything, will be done to make Alcoa Highway better. In addition, it appears that, at least for the foreseeable future, existing dangerous situations will remain.

Participants also mentioned Topside Road, the Airbase and Northpark roads intersections. TDOT said that the Topside Road intersection with Alcoa Highway as well as the highly populated areas into which the proposed new road will merge north and south will all be addressed in different projects. The TDOT representative requested a further separate discussion regarding the Airbase and Northpark roads intersections.

The first resident to speak said she was against the new road project and questioned the concern about safety. She asked why are there so many accesses and crossovers in this section of the highway (36 accesses on the east side, 16 on the west, and 21 crossovers)? In addition, she asked, what will they do to make Alcoa Highway safer for the next ten years while a bypass is being built? She also brought to their attention the problem of how the proposed road will flow into existing roads with high density and/or lower speed limits and stop lights. TDOT did not have answers to either of these questions. They suggested that those issues are different projects not covered by this project.

She also questioned TDOT about the reduction in traffic on Alcoa Highway since 2004 and 2006. TDOT did not have the traffic counts, but they did concede that traffic counts were down and are lower than estimated in the Environmental Assessment. They feel the reductions in traffic counts are minor.

According a TDOT website for annual average daily traffic counts, station 15 (just south of Pellissippi Parkway) is down nearly 10,000 since 2006. Stations 13 (just north of the airport interchange) and 112 (just south of Hunt Road) are barely higher than traffic counts in 1998. Station 216 (just north of Pellissippi Parkway) is 6,000 less than the 2004 high for that station.

One person was concerned with how dangerous it is at the existing Hall Road access to get onto Alcoa Highway. TDOT said that will be looked at in the final design to ensure the merge area will have enough "weaving" for safe movement.

A resident of Springbrook was concerned with the environmental, social, quality of life, property values, and noise impacts on that neighborhood. TDOT said they are still evaluating the traffic noise and whether these areas will qualify for noise barriers (large concrete barriers). TDOT said, "We go before the community and present our findings and tell how long they will be and how tall they will be and the type of [noise] reduction they will achieve. If the public supports us, then we can provide the barriers. If the public doesn't like them, then we wouldn't build them." TDOT did not address any of the issues mentioned except for noise. There was no indication as to what level of noise would qualify for noise barriers and what options, if any, were available besides large concrete barriers.

TDOT did admit that, "yes there are some businesses that depend on thru traffic that could be adversely affected. There will still be a tremendous amount of traffic going down Alcoa Highway. Those businesses will still have a lot of business for drive-by." This seems like a confusing statement. There was no further explanation as to the amount of traffic would be projected for the existing highway after a proposed bypass would be built. Nor, how many businesses are dependent on the traffic passing through to Knoxville and other destinations that would supposedly use the proposed bypass.

A request was submitted for TDOT to put all the materials regarding this proposed bypass on a single website easily accessible to the public. Materials requested included the Environmental Assessments (EA) from 1998 and 2004 including all public comments, as well as anything new as a result of this meeting including public comments. This resident also, later in the Q&A, tried to pinpoint what was in the current EA available at that meeting and if it was the final. If not, what would be included in the final, clarifying that any noise studies are not included in the documents available at the meeting.

A resident of Alcoa asked TDOT why they could not just fix the existing Alcoa Highway like they will be doing all the way from Singleton Station Road to UT Hospital in Knox County. TDOT responded that they initially proposed such a fix but the City of Alcoa asked them to reconsider the plan and submitted a plan of their own, this plan. He also asked why Alcoa Highway was not patrolled more often to slow down drivers.

Another Springbrook resident mentioned his concern for the noise pollution. He asked for more information as to when the noise study would be complete and when and how the public would be informed of the results. TDOT would not commit as to when the study would be complete. They said winter, then February. He as for how the public will be informed, he said "the papers, copies will be available locally Maryville, Alcoa, Knoxville. And, if we develop a website, which I think is likely, it will be available there."

Three more Springbrook residents spoke up with their concerns of building a new road bringing heavy traffic closer to Alcoa's premier, historic neighborhood and park.

One person suggested they could use barriers in the center of the existing Alcoa Highway, "if New Jersey barriers were put on the existing highway... without any bypass then businesses don't perish." In response, TDOT suggested concrete barriers are less safe than wide grassy medians and the new road will have 48 foot grassy medians, probably four times the width of the medians of the existing Alcoa Highway. It appears that medians on the current highway are much wider than the estimated twelve feet. In fact, it is possible the existing medians might be thirty plus feet wide therefore negating the safety claims of the new proposed road. More importantly, in the area where a speeding drunk driver crossed over in Feb., 2010 and killed a mother and her child, the median appears to be wider than 48 feet.

A second gentleman stated he did not want the new road built. He suggested they just need to slow everybody down. In addition, he reminded the group that Blount County is already known for bad air quality and we don't need to promote more cars on the road. He asked TDOT how close the road would come to the Springbrook neighborhood and how it would be affected. TDOT did not have an answer. They said, until the design is complete it would be difficult to know.

The final Springbrook resident wanted to know how Springbrook would be affected. "We are a very quiet neighborhood, a wonderful park is next door, a wonderful place to raise a family. " He asked about traffic counts. How many people are taking Pellissippi to West Knoxville? How many are going to Knoxville? What are the traffic counts at the different times of day? How much will the noise volume change in the community with the proposed new road being closer? TDOT did not have the traffic counts to answer the questions, nor could they comment on the noise factor. As mentioned earlier, a noise study has not yet been done.

A Blount County resident who lives near the Eagleton Village area and travels to the Airbase Road area to work is concerned with safety now, not ten years from now. She wonders why there are so many ingress' and egress' along this stretch of the highway. She asked is an elevated road over the existing highway had been considered as an option. TDOT said they had previously proposed a plan to fix the existing highway, but had not considered an elevated highway.

A resident of the Northwood community on the west side of Alcoa Highway spoke up regarding the existing noise problems with the airport and how they do not yet have adequate barriers to alleviate the current problem. She is a part owner of the Pine Lakes Golf Course and expressed concern over losing that business, which her Dad started, as well as concern for the community in general. She is worried that this is going to create more damage and less people living in Alcoa, giving up the historic places where they live and a historic park, and the noise will be so loud. She, too, suggested they need to do something now, not ten years down the road. In regards to the golf course, she pleaded for a timeframe. They are making it very hard to plan for the future of their business, if there is a future. TDOT suggested the proposed project could take 6-7 years, provided all of the funding is in place.

Three gentlemen with businesses in the area participated in the Q&A session. Two of them have ownership in large car dealerships along the existing Alcoa Highway. One of them said, "Don't know if this is the best solution, but we have to trust the people who know how to design it." He went on to question TDOT about the Airbase and Northpark roads intersections on the existing highway. TDOT suggest they discuss this issue after the Q&A session. The other gentleman with ownership in several car dealerships asked about the future of the existing highway if a new road is built. TDOT said it will revert back to the city for maintenance and they will handle any development. The third businessman has a business in the industrial park. He the project will improve traffic. He encouraged city officials to take the stage and talk about the positive aspects of a new road and how it will provide opportunity for growth.

Three local mayors made comments or asked questions. Carl Koella, Mayor of Rockford, expressed concern for the Glenmore Estates neighborhood off of Singleton Station Road. "Planning of the south modification is extremely poor; you probably have 150 homes right there that the property values and everything else will be adversely affected. I think it is important at a forum like this to have plans that you can discuss with us on the noise reduction, or hold another meeting once that is available so that it can be discussed with the community. Quite frankly, a lot of support or opposition to this project will be how you deal with these [noise] issues." He also mentioned that the new road will add additional time for the trip to the airport from Knoxville; it adds a couple of miles to that route.

Tom Taylor, Mayor of Maryville, expressed concern for the thru traffic that would be siphoned off of Alcoa Highway if a new road were built. ". It sounds good in some ways but It will have an impact on the current businesses on Alcoa Highway. Have the area businesses been polled as to whether they approve this project or if they oppose it?" TDOT deferred to the local government regarding local business involvement in the decision making process.

Don Mull, Mayor of Alcoa, said safety is a major concern. He agrees there is still a lot work to do on this project to study the noise and environment issues. He said businesses were polled back in 2000 regarding the possibility of a new road.

Mike Conger, Sr. Transportation Engineer, Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) and City of Knoxville Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC), and Brian Daniels, Interim Chamber of Commerce President in Blount County, also got up to speak.

Mr. Conger said, "The project has the support of local elected officials throughout the greater region and are represented on the TPO executive board." He said the project to make Alcoa Highway safer in the Alcoa area is their number one priority project. He emphasized the importance of the Alcoa Highway corridor; it is a primary connection to the airport, and a primary community corridor for Knox and Blount County. The TPO has analyzed some census data and found that there are over 13,000 work trips a day from Blount County to Knox County. There are about half that many, in the opposite direction from Knox to Blount County. The TPO feels a limited access highway will alleviate most of the issues, e.g. safety and congestion.

Brian Daniels, Chamber of Commerce of Blount County, wanted to know if the road will have restricted access. TDOT said that from talking to their designers, the proposed road is still planned for restricted access.