Poor Planning Creates Hellish Commutes in East Tennessee

September means football time in Tennessee, but Nashvillians headed to the Vols’ home games learned early this season that their Knoxville jaunt can quickly turn into a bumper-to-bumper hellscape. 

From 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weeknights, drivers will encounter no less than four sprawling roadwork-based traffic snarls in the less than 75 miles it takes to get from the outskirts of Cookeville to the west Knoxville suburbs. 

For TDOT, it’s all business as usual. “TDOT coordinates construction activities to avoid excessive overlap and minimize congestion,”  Rae Anne Bradley, TDOT’s Regional Communications Officer covering the greater Chattanooga and Upper Cumberland areas, said. “While there is no fixed numerical limit on concurrent projects within a corridor, project scheduling is carefully managed to reduce cumulative impacts.”

However, the road work is so all-encompassing that over 40 percent of the Interstate between mile markers 299 and 369 is under construction nightly. The result is that a 65-minute drive has routinely taken motorists more than four hours to complete since the middle of summer. This grinding halt poses a major problem for the more than 500,000 residents in the area–many of whom frequently commute to Knoxville for work and events beyond football. 

While the drive from downtown Nashville to Neyland Stadium begins rather uneventfully, motorists will encounter the first backups about four miles past downtown Cookeville. Though that area under construction already spans more than ten miles, the next backup occurs minutes later from exits 317-322–perfectly primed to cause a bottleneck for those jonesing for a Buc-ee's pit stop in Crossville. 

Then, the mother of all jams occurs before the I-40 and I-75 interchange from mile marker 355-369. On one of the most traversed stretches of road in America, those hoping to exit near the Franklinesque town of Farragut have to travel an additional ten minutes into Knoxville proper and backtrack. 

As Bradley noted, the early fall provides an ideal time to complete lingering road improvements and prep drivers for the winter ahead. But it is also the prime season for weeknight sporting events, concerts, and seasonal festivities that have a major financial impact on the towns between the state’s largest cities. 

“TDOT does not conduct resurfacing work on Friday nights before UT home games, in an effort to reduce traffic impacts during high-volume travel periods. We understand the frustration that comes with extended travel times, especially for those making daily commutes or attending major events,” Bradley said. “Construction activities are necessary to extend the service life of our roadways.” 

Despite our questions, TDOT and its representatives provided no explanation for why this multitude of projects is underway at once in such a concentrated area. Likewise, the department gave no justification for why such large stretches were closed when workers are only active on a few thousand feet at any given time. While the Cookeville and Crossville projects should be complete by Halloween, the repairs near Knoxville could extend well into next football season.

Given the impact on tourism and the overall economy, especially in more rural enclaves, legislators in the area such as Crossville resident Cameron Sexton would do well to take up the question of TDOT accountability and efficiencies during the next legislative session. 

A bill limiting the number of miles under construction in each phase of a project could greatly reduce the need for travelers to sit in traffic or take winding detours on unfamiliar roads. It would also ensure that wayward and haphazardly placed cones and barrels between lanes do not endanger motorists. 

More importantly, legislation that limits construction to one stretch of each Interstate between Tennessee’s major cities would do much to make the most wonderful time of year in the Volunteer State something more than the slog it has currently become. 

Yet, TDOT need not concern itself with simple matters like efficient travel between the state’s Grand Divisions. “We encourage drivers to check TDOT SmartWay for real-time traffic updates and lane closure alerts,” Bradley said.