- Noise–imagine
18-wheelers thundering by, coupled with the constant drone of cars and
trucks as they come near your neighborhood. You'll hear it from miles
away
- Hazardous materials–banned
from going through downtown, these trucks will speed past your child’s
school, your home, your church.
- Smell–The
smell of diesel, oil and gasoline will replace the aroma of newly mowed
hay and clean country air.
- Billboards–Huge
signs will replace pine trees and block out sunsets.
- Sprawl–The
seven (or more) interchanges will breed more gas stations, convenience
stores, fast food chains and subdivisions–just what we need to beautify
our area!
- Congestion–your
drive to and from your home for the next 10-20 years will consist of
dodging traffic barrels, taking detours and fighting congestion.
Bulldozers, graders and other heavy equipment will cover the land where
daffodils and dogwoods once bloomed.
- Taxes–As a
taxpayer, you are being FLEECED. What are the REAL motives for building
the road? Easing traffic congestion and making roads safer? This
beltway will NOT accomplish that purpose. Click here to read a letter written by former TDOT
commissioner Saltsman admitting that a beltway would NOT relieve
traffic congestion on I-40/I-75. Could there be other motives, such as
creating new developments and increasing sales tax revenues? Let's
see–building more roads means more development, which means more
driving, which means more gas stations, which means more money (21
cents per gallon) for TDOT's budget.
Frequently Asked
Questions
- Is it really a
Bypass? Why does TDOT insist on building a bypass that really isn’t
a bypass? It is only projected to provide a 9% reduction in traffic at
a cost of nearly half a billion dollars! The road has been called a
beltway, a bypass, and now a Parkway! Which is it? The orange route
feeds back into I-40 just west of Watt Road. How long will it be before
West Knoxville fills into that interchange? Look at I-640 and the area
between Papermill Drive and Campbell Station–it didn't take long for
those expansions to become parking lots AGAIN.
- Why don't they
build it farther out? Why does TDOT insist on building a road that
will be obsolete by the time it is finished? This EIGHT-LANE INTERSTATE
is too close to I-40/I-75. It comes within two miles of Pellissippi
Parkway!! Everyone knows it is too close in, but guess what? After it
is built and the billboards and gas stations put in place, and the
urban sprawl develops, then they can build the BLUE ROUTE. We can be
just like Atlanta and Nashville--both cities realized their original
bypass/beltways were too close after they were completed, and are now
building roads around those! When will it ever end? Never, unless
something is done to build it in the right place the first time!
- Where's the Money?
Why does TDOT want to spend millions of dollars on a road that isn’t
needed or wanted at a time when our teachers and other state employees
barely make a living wage? When our state health care has been termed a
“failure?” When our state parks have closed because we can’t afford to
keep them open? Why spend hundreds of millions on an EIGHT-LANE road
that is inadequate and that has been proven will NOT achieve the stated
objective of ”relieving traffic congestion?”
WHY, OH WHY
CAN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS CAN BE SPENT TO DESTROY NEIGHBORHOODS, POLLUTE
THE COUNTRYSIDE, UPROOT FAMILIES AND PAVE, PAVE, PAVE OVER MORE AND
MORE EARTH!
- Who wants the
Beltway? The road builders' association wants the Beltway for
obvious reasons. So do the billboard companies, the machinery/heavy
equipment companies, the asphalt companies, the crushed stone
companies, the engineering companies and on and on... People who will
gain from new developments along the SEVEN or more interchanges want
it, and are already buying up property for their gas stations,
billboards and fast-food restaurants.
- What is the real
purpose of the Beltway? A handful of people want to convert rural
lands and open spaces into sprawl for their short term benefit. Look at
the Pellissippi Parkway -- most of the gas stations and restaurants at
the interchanges are owned by out-of-state businesses. If the real purpose is to
build a bypass around Knoxville, then it would go around Knoxville and
Knox County, not through it. Let's face it, this is a development
project–not a way to relieve traffic problems.
- Will my property
value increase if I'm near the Beltway? When TDOT talks about the
numbers of families that will be "displaced," it sounds relatively low,
but what they aren't counting are the families who will have an
interstate in their backyards! Would YOU want that in YOUR
neighborhood? Your property values will NOT go up with an EIGHT-LANE
INTERSTATE GOING NEAR OR THROUGH YOUR LAND!
- Is TDOT's budget
for the Beltway accurate? TDOT's budget for the Beltway does not
include the many, many pieces of land, farms, etc. that ARE NOT
anywhere on its maps!! The original estimates even forgot about a $5
million church! TDOT's "numbers" need to be scrutinized!!
- Isn't the State of
Tennessee having financial problems? Our state is currently in a
major financial crisis–on the verge of going bankrupt. But one
department (TDOT) has a surplus of money! How could that be? Because
TDOT has its own little fund and it doesn't have to share! Wow! What
political power! It seems that TDOT gets to keep almost all of the 21.4
cents tax per gallon of gasoline sold in our state. Our parks are
closed, we're almost last in education in the USA, our healthcare
system is a shambles, and this one department gets to keep its billions
to buy asphalt and pave over our beautiful state.