Old-time road revival

Officials from local, state and federal government convened in Etowah on Nov. 29 for a public presentation by a Knoxville developer urging construction of a new highway east of Chattanooga. The Appalachian Regional Commission has been accumulating funds for this "Corridor K" project for several decades, but the $80 million kitty was dwarfed by estimates for upgrading U.S. 64 through Ocoee Gorge. A study done as part of a 2003 Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) determined it would cost nearly a billion dollars to make that century-old road into a four-lane highway. The road is notorious for slow traffic, and accidents occur almost twice as often as on similar highways. Developer Wilbur Smith Associates cited decreased reliability of employees traveling on the road and the need for an efficient route to coastal ports in a globalized economy as primary economic justifications for the highway. Transportation officials plan to initiate a new EIS process encompassing a broader range of options, from building a bypass around the gorge to finding novel routes between Chattanooga and Asheville, N.C. One proposed alternate route follows an unpaved Forest Service road known as Kimsey Highway, which stretches through Cherokee National Forest between Archville and Harbuck, twice crossing the Benton MacKaye Trail. Congress will revisit funding for the project in 2009.