No Route 3 In The Mountains!

Highway study to be OK'd soon
Promoted by Ga. lawmakers, I-3 would run from Knox to Savannah

Knoxville News-Sentinel Co
By RICHARD POWELSON, powelsonr@shns.com
July 28, 2005

WASHINGTON - The full House and Senate plan to approve soon a federal study of the feasibility of a new highway corridor called Interstate 3 from Knoxville to Savannah, Ga.

The plan, promoted by Georgia lawmakers, may be approved as early as this week in the national highway bill. No affected Tennessee legislator has taken a position on the study or the interstate, but the Tennessee Department of Transportation and a national parks group said they have strong concerns.

"We do need to look into it more completely," said TDOT spokeswoman Kim Keelor. "We do have two pretty serious concerns: one, the environmental impact on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That gives us a lot of pause on this project. And the second item is we are under a federal mandate to build (Interstate) 69 in West Tennessee."

The I-69 north-south corridor through six West Tennessee counties and other states is requiring a lot of resources and finances, Keelor said.

Both Tennessee Sens. Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander will look at the interstate proposal more closely before taking a position, their aides said.

U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a Knoxville Republican, also is neutral. "Congressman Duncan will be very interested in hearing his constituents' thoughts on any results of the study," Duncan aide Matt Lehigh said.

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam has not taken a position at this point, spokeswoman Amy Nolan said.

But two others took strong stands on opposite sides of the study's merits.

Mike Edwards, president and CEO of the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, said the study is a good idea for expanding transportation options to keep areas of the United States competitive in a global market.

Labor and transportation costs are big factors when the chamber talks to business prospects, Edwards said. Providing a shorter interstate route for trucks moving raw materials or finished products also could reduce air pollution in federal non-attainment areas like Knox and surrounding counties, he said.

"If we can shorten the number of minutes, if not hours, that a truck has on the highway, that's less emissions going into the ozone" pollution, Edwards said. "We need to see what the environmental impact statement shows. If it's a plus, I think it's something that we need to look at."

Don Barger at the National Parks Conservation Association said he opposes a new interstate near the Smokies park because it could increase traffic and air pollution in the area and might require condemning protected land for a highway of interstate size and quality.

Barger said he suspects the proposal is aimed at least in part at reducing air pollution and traffic congestion in Atlanta, where three interstates cross.

"I would suggest that there may be more practical ways to deal with Atlanta's traffic problems," Barger said.

Support for the study started with Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., whose district is in northeastern Georgia, and U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

Norwood spokesman John Stone said his office would await the results of the study, then seek feedback from affected states' departments of transportation, from county governments along possible routes and from their commissions and chambers of commerce.

"We want full feedback on it," Stone said. "This is a true feasibility study. We haven't decided" on a specific route.

"We would consider which communities want the interstate or don't want," Stone said. "And we want to use existing roadways as much as possible" to lower the cost.

The final wording for the study was general and said routes considered should connect Knoxville with Augusta, Ga., and Savannah, Ga., Stone said.

Knoxville was chosen tentatively for the northern end of I-3, Stone said, because of the I-75 link there. Norwood considers I-75 a good route "up through the heart of the industrial Midwest," Stone said, and a strong link to improve the competitive edge of the Port of Savannah.

Norwood's original bill was more detailed and suggested the potential route also would include Maryville, western North Carolina, and these other towns and cities in Georgia: Sylvania, Waynesboro, Augusta, Lincolnton, Elberton, Hartwell, Toccoa and Young Harris.

Jeff Welch, executive director of the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization, works with seven counties on air pollution or transportation planning or both. The TPO's board and council have not taken a position on I-3.

Welch, noting that Wednesday was an unhealthy air alert day in Knoxville for sensitive groups, said his organization would review any interstate study funded by Congress in terms of impacts on transportation, air quality, land use and the economy.

"Is there a need for goods moving down to the Port of Savannah and that area or is it just to bypass traffic around Atlanta?" Welch asked. "I think the study is going to have to define those parameters and help define the needs."

Richard Powelson may be reached at 202-408-2727.

Copyright 2005, Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.