The state representative of Polk County, where a Nov. 10 rock slide still blocks a major east-west highway, will ask his colleagues to show support for an alternate route that could cost $1 billion.
Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, said he intends to present a resolution asking Tennessee legislators to show support for Corridor K.
The project would replace U.S. Highway 64, which winds along the Ocoee River and is prone to accidents and rock slides, but is currently the most practical route between Cleveland and eastern Polk County.
“I’m asking the entire General Assembly to support this,” Rep. Watson said. “We’re asking that this be made the top priority of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.”
In 1965, the federal government passed a plan to connect the rural South with the East Coast through a series of road projects. Corridor K was one of 27 corridors throughout Appalachia that was supposed to be built, with the federal government paying for 80 percent of the road’s construction cost.
Parts of the corridor are finished, but it’s not a continuous link from Chattanooga to the coast because the Polk County piece has not been built, Rep. Watson said. Eighty-seven percent of all the other corridors in the country are complete, Rep. Watson said.
Estimates on completing Corridor K have run from $500 million to $1 billion.
A committee is studying the Corridor K plan, but there is no word on how large the road will be, where it will run or if just making U.S. 64 straighter might be a better option.
After the November rock slide, TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely indicated some support for Corridor K.
“I think we need to start looking at the money we’ve got for Corridor K,” Mr. Nicely said. “We are still in the environmental (study) phase right now.”
and that’s a long and arduous ordeal, but I am hopeful we can expedite that process and work with the funds we have available.”
Mr. Watson said U.S. 64’s closure since the rock slide has significantly hurt the economy and residents of Ducktown and Copperhill, Tenn., which each have populations of about 500.
“Businesses are reporting a 30 to 40 percent loss in sales because of the road closure,” Rep. Watson said. “The cities are also seeing less sales tax revenue compared to the year before.”
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
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