Corridor K workshops scheduled

photo Members of the Corridor K Citizen's Resource Team visit sites of the November 2009 rock slides on U.S. 64 in the Ocoee River gorge. Team member Betty Petty said the infamous Trucker's Curve, pictured, was one of the most dangerous hazards that Tennessee Department of Transportation corrected while the road was shut down for slide removal.

People who want to learn more or provide input about the Tennessee Department of Transportation's proposed Corridor K project can attend two workshops set for March 28 and 29, officials said in a news release.

The transportation department is studying the proposed improvement project through Polk County's Ocoee River gorge from U.S. Highway 64 to state Route 68 near Ducktown.

The workshops will be in an open house format that will allow participants to learn about the project at their own pace, officials said.

Participants can get information about the project schedule, proposed study alternatives, environmental review process and latest fieldwork and data collection activities, officials state. A court reporter will be on hand to take verbal comments on the project.

A rock slide in 2009 that cut the Copper Basin area off from the rest of the county renewed interest in the project, state Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, told the Times Free Press in January.

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"There was a time when we held meetings about Corridor K where I was lucky to have six or seven people," Watson said. "I feel we are closer than we have ever been."

Corridor K has been on the drawing board since the 1960s, but controversy over funding and routes has kept officials from committing funding to the project, records show.

The March 28 meeting will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. EDT in the Copper Basin High School gymnasium in Copper Hill, Tenn., and the March 29 meeting will be from 5 to 8 p.m. EDT in the Polk County High School cafeteria in Benton, Tenn.

For more information, visit the project website at http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/corridork/.

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