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Take the James White out to John Sevier

by Barry Henderson

The James White Parkway extension is one of the most significant projects South Knoxvillians have considered in recent years. Whether to complete it and, if so, what route it should take are questions that have been fraught with controversy, the kind of extended controversy that a new road can nearly always generate.

It has been a roller-coaster ride that began even before the “bridge to nowhere” sat idle for a more than a decade before it was connected to “somewhere,” meaning Moody Avenue, the present terminus of the parkway.

The rancor that marked the debate has diminished somewhat in the sessions of a James White Parkway/Chapman Highway Corridor Task Force, which has gone over the options for more than six months and is ready to present them to the general public in a series of three meetings beginning tonight, Thursday, Sept. 23, in South-Doyle Middle School’s library, from 5 to 7 p.m.

For Joe Hultquist, the 1st District city councilman who co-chairs the 25-plus-member task force, the alternatives have boiled down to two: don’t extend the parkway at all, or take it all the way to Gov. John Sevier Highway. But it still will generate a lot of comment from constituents. “One District, Nine Visions” would probably underestimate the character of the public response.

The parkway should be extended, and, as I’ve said before, the task force was formed in the hope of influencing the final disposition of the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s plan to do it right. For my money, it should lead at least to John Sevier, if not farther south into the heart of Seymour somewhere. The original TDOT proposal, to dump it back onto Chapman Highway near Little Switzerland Road just north of the recently reopened Ye Olde Steakhouse, is not an acceptable route.

The parkway should serve as a true alternative to Chapman, making the former an easier way to get to and from the Seymour area from Interstate 40 and downtown Knoxville and the latter a lot safer for local commercial traffic. Chapman has not been the “Gateway to the Smokies” for a long time. For that we can be thankful for the Tenn. 66 route from I-40 through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. Chapman is really suited only for the local traffic load it would bear if the parkway took much of the through traffic away.

Taking the parkway—in boulevard, scenic parkway or freeway form—to John Sevier might also allow for the elimination of some of the terrain challenges and geological problems that would confront TDOT and its road builders in the current configuration. Looking to the future, it should parallel Chapman as far south as is feasible.

South Knoxville has been slighted forever in the realm of streets, roads and planning for reasonable transportation options. The lack of a direct east-west connection between Chapman and Alcoa Highways should make that snub abundantly clear to anyone who lives there or drives there regularly.

At least the task force concept and its open hearings permits real people who have an abiding interest in the future of South Knoxville and its development to apply some forethought into the transportation corridor and what it should and should not do. Councilman Hultquist and Councilman at-large Chris Woodhull, the task force co-chairs, have done justice to its mission, as have the volunteer participants, the Metropolitan Planning Commission staff, and the TDOT representatives. The public at-large is being given its say, as we mentioned, and there is no reason to doubt the comments will be lively. Tonight’s session may be dulled a bit by the fact that County Mayor Mike Ragsdale has set his South Knox “Neighborhood Night” at the South Knoxville Library Branch on Chapman Highway tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., with County Commissioners Larry Clark and Paul Pinkston on hand to take the pulse of the citizenry and explain themselves and the county’s programs and plans, if they can. If you’re tempted to try to get your nose into both the task force hearing and Neighborhood Night, don’t rush. Chapman Highway’s too dangerous. Take a shot at another task force date.

Besides this evening’s hearings, which will include presentations by the task force at 5:15 and 6:15, the open sessions include one at New Hopewell Elementary School on Kimberlin Heights Road Monday, Sept. 27, and one in the Small Assembly Room of the City County Building Tuesday, Sept. 27. Both of those hearings will be from 5 to 7 p.m. with similar presentations.

September 23, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 39 © 2004 Metro Pulse