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SELC Advocates Interstate Improvements That Avoid Miles of New Asphalt

added 6.19.09

TDOT has conducted a study of needed improvements to the heavily traveled interstate highway corridor from Memphis to Bristol (I-40/I-80) and has launched a similar study of the I-75 corridor from the Georgia state line below Chattanooga to the Kentucky line above Knoxville.

For the I-81/I-40 corridor, TDOT is considering a plan to spend more than $4 billion largely on highway widening—an approach likely to increase traffic, oil consumption, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, polluted runoff, and loss of rural lands.

SELC has taken a critical look at TDOT’s analysis and has met with TDOT officials to advocate more effective and less destructive alternatives. We are urging them to look at the advantages of upgraded rail lines to reduce truck volume, steps to improve the efficiency and safety of the existing highway, and better street networks in communities along the corridor to route local traffic away from the interstate.

Likewise, as the I-75 study moves forward, we are calling for TDOT to give thorough consideration to these and other ways to enhance safety and ease congestion without adding miles of new asphalt.