TDOT announces several infrastructure projects in southeast Tennessee in the next three years, discussions regarding the federal infrastructure plan are ongoing, and the Department of Homeland Security is looking into petroleum supply chain disruptions along our region’s inland waterways.

At the latest meeting of Thrive’s Freight Mobility Coalition, representatives from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty’s office, and Vanderbilt University shared updates and information about projects, policies, and research affecting the greater Chattanooga region. 

State-Level (Tennessee)

TDOT has released its FY 2022-2024 Comprehensive Multimodal Program which includes 9 individual project phases that are funded in Thrive’s counties in southeastern Tennessee as well as Grundy County. Roughly 13% of all listed projects for FY 2022-2024 are in southeast Tennessee counties.

These projects include, but are not limited to:

• Construction on Phase 2 of the Interchange Modification at I-24 scheduled for 2022

• Two Corridor K projects in Polk County

  •      In 2022, a baseline geotechnical investigation (PE phase) for proposed bridges/tunnels near Ocoee Dam #2

  •      In 2023 & 2024, funding is set aside for right-of-way activities from east of the Ocoee River to SR-68 in Ducktown

More information, including an overview video, about the Corridor K Project can be found on the project website. You can also sign up for email updates.

Federal Level

The Coalition welcomed Lucas Da Pieve, Program Director for Sen. Bill Hagerty's office in DC, for a presentation and Q&A about federal infrastructure plan priorities. Discussions at the federal level are still ongoing.

Dr. Janey Camp with Vanderbilt’s VECTOR Research Team shared an update on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) effort to create a Port Resilience Guide. Vanderbilt’s will contribute a case study on the Tennessee & Cumberland Rivers concentrating on supply chain disruptions in petroleum products in this area. 

Vanderbilt will host a stakeholder meeting in mid-June with Thrive, TDOT, and more than a dozen other stakeholders.  The recent Colonial Pipeline disruption is one of the scenarios they will discuss.  Anyone else interested in being a stakeholder, please reach out to Janey at janey.camp@vanderbilt.edu.

To learn more about the state of freight in the greater Chattanooga region, check out the recently published National Economic Partnership study: “Freight Movement Along Freight Alley.”