CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said Saturday that U.S. Highway 64 needs a more permanent fix through Polk County.
Lt. Gov. Ramsey, a Republican candidate in the gubernatorial race this year, led a delegation of local and Tennessee Department of Transportation officials to the November rock slide site.
On the way to the site, Lt. Gov. Ramsey was briefed on the status of Corridor K, a future route around the Ocoee River Gorge now under study, as well as the work to clear U.S. 64 by the end of March.
"Obviously we need a more permanent fix than this," Lt. Gov. Ramsey said. "I'm not an engineer or a geologist. I don't know what that fix is. But you can tell it's going to happen time and time again. I'm sure all the circumstances right now happened to be perfect. We had been through a drought, and now we have a lot of rain."
Lt. Gov. Ramsey's visit included the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce to hear city and county officials update him on a variety of projects from schools to roads and Wacker Chemical.
The route to Polk County included a look at the future APD 40 interchange between Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 11.
"Interchanges like that are about job creation," Lt. Gov. Ramsey said. "In this economic climate we are in right now, the only way we are going to get out of it is creating jobs. That's why that is so important."
Lt. Gov. Ramsey was accompanied by state Sen. Dewayne Bunch, state Rep. Mike Bell and former representative Lou Patten. Rep. Bell and Mr. Patten are candidates for state senator from the district.
"He's going to be governor or lieutenant governor, no matter what happens," Sen. Bunch said of Lt. Gov. Ramsey. "So he needs to understand the difficulties we are facing here. ... He will be able to understand we are not talking about Corridor K at this site but the impact of the rock slide.
"Once you see this, you gain a different perspective about the impact," Sen. Bunch said.
Driving through the Ocoee River Gorge, Lt. Gov. Ramsey and others saw two rock slide sites with two other points where the road closed to one lane. Two of those sites are intentional, said Bob Brown, Chattanooga region manager for TDOT. While the contractors are there, Mr. Brown said, they are widening two narrow and dangerous curves along the highway.