About damn time!
Wilbur Smith Associates senior transportation engineer John Sexton likens Alcoa Highway to a swollen, dangerous river.
“It’s a river of cars with very few gaps to cross,” Sexton told a gathering of Alcoa Highway business representatives Tuesday.
“There are too many cars going too fast for the number of driveways we have,” Sexton said.
To improve the chances of surviving the games of “chicken” played out daily on the highway, Wilbur Smith Associates has been contracted by the city of Alcoa to conduct an engineering analysis of the heavily traveled roadway, with an emphasis on identifying and improving problem intersections and median gaps.
The plan currently is a bypass. I’d say most problems on Alcoa Highway could be solved with about 3 or 4 traffic lights. But what do I know? I’m no traffic engineer.
November 19th, 2003 at 10:11 am
Y’know, it’s interesting. I work off of Alcoa Highway, and although I don’t drive on it very frequently (I use Pellissippi Parkway), I always wonder what the big deal is.
I’ve never really noticed cars going at excessive speeds, nor have I seen anyone have any major problems turning onto or off of the highway. I can’t recall seeing very many wrecks, and have never had a problem myself.
In my opinion, Kingston Pike – especially in that Dead Zone between West Town and Walker Springs – and Chapman Highway are much more hazardous and confusing.
I’m sure others have seen or heard of Alcoa Highway horror stories, but it always strikes me as strange when I’m tooling along without much problem…
November 19th, 2003 at 10:23 am
The problem with Alcoah Hwy is not one of traffic speed. It’s one of actually pulling from the side streets/businesses/I140 entrance onto the highway itself that causes the problems. It’s impossible during rush hour to get onto the hwy without cutting someone off.
November 19th, 2003 at 1:34 pm
I drove Alcoa Hwy for years and years, commuting from Maryville to Knoxville. Like Barry, I honestly didn’t feel it was all that bad. I was in one wreck in all that time. It happened at the Louisville Rd intersection (where Wal-Mart is now) at a traffic light. I’m not even sure that’s considered part of Alcoa Hwy.
My understanding is that a lot of the wrecks are at Singleton Station Rd (close to where I live now) and Top side Rd (ditto). I plan my route to avoid having to turn left at Topside Rd. At Singleton Station, one solution during rush hour is to go to the Pellissippi interchange and use it to change direction.
November 19th, 2003 at 3:55 pm
What you’ll see in cities like Chicago is these things called “frontage roads.” They’re parallel to, but separate from, the main road, and allow easy access to and from businesses along the road. And from time to time there are points to access the main road from the frontage road and vice versa. Frontage roads serve as a nice buffer between the main road and the businesses that line them.
From what I’ve seen, the South has never heard of this concept. In the South, they’ll decide to develop heavily along a two-lane country blacktop road without widening the road or concerning themselves in any way with traffic flow or access.
I’m sure there are places in the north that are stupid about that, too. I’ve just never lived in any of them.
November 20th, 2003 at 9:24 am
I flew to Newark for a computer training seminar in one time, and rented a car to drive to upstate New Jersey. It was raining, and dark. Imagine my confusion, a Tennessee-er born-and-bread, with those wacky “frontage roads”. I’m surprised I’m not still trying to find my way around them…
Upon reflection (and daylight), they’re not a bad idea.
Oh, and I should have thought about the Topside/Alcoa intersection – however, whenever I need to go north on Alcoa I take Pellisippi south to Alcoa Hwy at the airport, and go north from there. It adds a couple minutes to the drive, but it’s much safer.