Jump to content

The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread


TopTenn

Recommended Posts

^^^ Agreed; and this coming from someone how's home town is one of those little rural burgs.  Nashville is fueling the state so that's where the concentration should be right now.  If it were up to me the only thing in the state that would have priority outside of Nashville is getting I-69 connected to Memphis and getting Lamar Ave. converted to I-22 at a minimum up to I-240.

Edited by L'burgnative
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Hello...bnacincy here, first time poster, long time lurker. As someone who used to work in state politics in Tennessee I seem to remember there was a project way back when where all 95  county seats would be connected to an interstate or major highway by a 4 lane highway.

It was an economic development drive for the rural parts of the state.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mean, like an above poster mentioned these communities deserve and need decent roads, but I kind of agree that some of the sizes of these little-used roads are excessive. Like there's no reason to have a massive 4 lane road connecting Pulaski and Fayetteville, or Pulaski and Lawrenceburg. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, bnacincy said:

Hello...bnacincy here, first time poster, long time lurker. As someone who used to work in state politics in Tennessee I seem to remember there was a project way back when where all 95  county seats would be connected to an interstate or major highway by a 4 lane highway.

It was an economic development drive for the rural parts of the state.

Welcome to the board, bnacincy.  Please contribute as often as you can.  Not sure if you are based in the Queen City at this time or not (based on your handle), but if you are in Nashville, you're most welcome to attend one (or more) of our Monthly Meet-Ups as well.  Next one is Sat. Oct. 7 at 10 AM at Provence Bakery in the Downtown Library.   : ) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, bnacincy said:

Hello...bnacincy here, first time poster, long time lurker. As someone who used to work in state politics in Tennessee I seem to remember there was a project way back when where all 95  county seats would be connected to an interstate or major highway by a 4 lane highway.

It was an economic development drive for the rural parts of the state.

You're exactly correct, this was the plan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, donNdonelson2 said:

I believe the portions of road you mention are US highway 64. At one time there was a long range effort to connect Memphis and Chattanooga with a decent four lane non-interstate highway. That connectivity would help to lift the very poor rural areas along the southern edge of our state along that route. It's a worthy effort.

That makes sense. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, markhollin said:

Welcome to the board, bnacincy.  Please contribute as often as you can.  Not sure if you are based in the Queen City at this time or not (based on your handle), but if you are in Nashville, you're most welcome to attend one (or more) of our Monthly Meet-Ups as well.  Next one is Sat. Oct. 7 at 10 AM at Provence Bakery in the Downtown Library.   : ) 

Living just outside of Cincinnati at the moment, but missing my hometown Nashville terribly! Might be in Nashville that weekend, but probably not til Sunday.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, donNdonelson2 said:

I believe the portions of road you mention are US highway 64. At one time there was a long range effort to connect Memphis and Chattanooga with a decent four lane non-interstate highway. That connectivity would help to lift the very poor rural areas along the southern edge of our state along that route. It's a worthy effort.

It may be a noble sacrifice of the public's dollars, but as a welfare program I have to think building broad and shiny and largely unused roads is one of the less efficient methods.  The fact is there are lots of reasons why economic activity takes place mostly in large cities, and subsidizing rural life in the hope that it will somehow overcome the laws of economics is a waste of money.  Sorry to sound harsh, I love the country, but it's not efficient.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/10/2017 at 2:19 AM, Pdt2f said:

I mean, like an above poster mentioned these communities deserve and need decent roads, but I kind of agree that some of the sizes of these little-used roads are excessive. Like there's no reason to have a massive 4 lane road connecting Pulaski and Fayetteville, or Pulaski and Lawrenceburg. 

That initiative resulted in SR 13 being rebuilt as a four lane divided highway for about 3 miles from US 70 to the south out of the metropolis of Waverly. No plans as of now to continue it on for the 20 miles or so to I 40. It's a prime example of a poorly thought out, useless, pork barrel project that accomplished nothing except to waste taxpayer dollars.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Living in Chattanooga, we've grown to despise TDOT. I realize the above comments are directed at the legislative actions that dictate allocation and priorities of funds. But my gripe is at the poor planning that seems to be going on at TDOT.  There are projects around here that have taken forever... and then they're only partial solutions that in turn will create their own bottlenecks. East Brainerd Rd. had taken over four years to expand 3 miles!!  3 miles!! And that's after ten years of waiting for the project to get green lighted. Additionally, they're not going all the way (additional 2 miles) to County 151 (Ooltewah-Ringgold Rd). So the result is the newly expanded road coming back to two lanes just before (below a hill!!) at a blind intersection at Rolling Ridge. It's dangerous, and something that should have been avoided. Someone will be hurt there when all four lanes are open.  The reason TDOT did not go all the way to 151 is because they diverted funds to build the VW intersection. Now that road has not been connected to TN HWY 158, as planned for years. And of course, the expansion of Apison Pike in the opposite direction has taken forever! Then there's the I-75 stretch that goes from 4 lanes down to 2 lanes that runs for the 1.5 miles just past Exit 11 before expanding back to 3 lanes up White Oak Mtn. then back to 2 lanes. I mean what bonehead thought that would work well? 

I won't rant on US27 which I have to deal with every day, but that's a complete cluster f---, now that they've moved all the way to I-24, which has NOT been expanded west to the state line (and beyond) although traffic comes to a stop there everyday, since before I was driving back and forth between Atlanta and Vandy 25-30 years ago. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, donNdonelson2 said:

I believe the portions of road you mention are US highway 64. At one time there was a long range effort to connect Memphis and Chattanooga with a decent four lane non-interstate highway. That connectivity would help to lift the very poor rural areas along the southern edge of our state along that route. It's a worthy effort.

Ironically, the primary purpose and need of the US Route 64 widening through Tennessee (i.e., an improved route between Memphis and Chattanooga) is already covered by a highway of which TDOT only has to maintain about 15 miles: US Route 72.

TDOT's hands are a bit tied in these cases. They answer to the governor and to the General Assembly, not all of whom come from major metropolitan areas. It may not make sense to build a four-lane divided highway to BFE, but it's what some state rep wanted, and they control the funding, so they have to at least study it. (The county seat plan was just a systematic manifestation of the desires by rural reps to get some love from TDOT.) And then there are the projects that have been ordered by resolution as well (the US Route 64 bypass around Bolivar, now finally in design 24 years later, comes to mind).

I do agree that this creates an unreasonable expectation of economic opportunities in rural areas. A lot of these projects get pushed through on the prospects of improving access to a factory or some other employer providing a few hundred jobs to an isolated area. That's great, but does it justify a $250 million widening project? What happens when the economy goes belly-up and the factory closes a couple of years later? TDOT gets stuck with the maintenance bill and the workers who pay the gas taxes are in the same boat they were before.

It's good that Tennessee is a pay-as-you-go state and that shouldn't change. Too many other states are hamstrung by debt service to even maintain their existing roads, much less build new ones, without taking on even more debt and making the problem worse. But either way the transportation network has to be sustainable. This goes for roads just as much as it does transit; it doesn't make sense to spend billions on a light-rail line for a few hundred riders a day and it doesn't make sense to spend the same on a four-lane divided for the same number of vehicle trips. As much as I hate to say it, it's simply not realistic for people who live in rural areas to expect access to jobs and services that typically require this level of infrastructure.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jmtunafish said:

I remember when US 27 through downtown Chattanooga was called I-124.  I guess it was downgraded back to US 27 because it was just such a poorly designed highway?  I don't know. 

It's still referred to as I-124 internally within TDOT, appears in their documentation as such, is included in their mileage count as an Interstate highway, etc.

I don't know why they changed the signage but I will say that it would be unnecessarily confusing to designate the roadway as both I-124 and US Route 27 especially when the route is so short.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

won't rant on US27 which I have to deal with every day, but that's a complete cluster f---,

Agree 100% that Chattanooga is hands-down my least favorite place in Tennessee to drive - and typically,  one of the worst places to have an efficient, pleasant interstate/hwy driving experience in the South. So many bad decisions and poorly executed roads.  

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, PruneTracy said:

It's still referred to as I-124 internally within TDOT, appears in their documentation as such, is included in their mileage count as an Interstate highway, etc.

I don't know why they changed the signage but I will say that it would be unnecessarily confusing to designate the roadway as both I-124 and US Route 27 especially when the route is so short.

Isn't US 27 interstate-quality now as far north as Soddy Daisy?  Actually, Hwy 111 which splits off at Soddy Daisy is interstate quality all the way to Dunlap.  I remember seeing a map somewhere a while ago that showed I-59 extending from Chattanooga to Cookeville using the roads that are now US 27/Hwy 111.  While I don't think for a minute that the road between Cookeville and Chattanooga needs to be interstate grade, I'm curious if that's still the plan.  (That's actually one of my favorite drives; it's absolutely beautiful and has almost zero traffic, at least between Sparta and Dunlap.)  Anyway, if TDOT still refers to that road as I-124, couldn't it be "I-124" as far north as Soddy Daisy (or even Dunlap)?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/10/2017 at 7:39 AM, markhollin said:

...  Not sure if you are based in the Queen City at this time or not ...

 

4 hours ago, Rockatansky said:

I thought Charlotte was the Queen City.?.

 

3 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

That's a nickname that's not unique to any city. Several smaller cities have it too. 

All y'all must not be from 'round des parts ...

Clarksville is the "Queen City"!!!

You will find several businesses there listed as "Queen City" _____. I have always heard of Cincinnati as the "Queen City of the West" and, more recently, Charlotte as the "Queen City" but I don't know the origins of that one

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.