Many people in our neighborhood have complained of difficulty seeing the highway at night in order to safely turn out of our neighborhood onto Alcoa Highway from Montlake, due to the fact that there has been no street light at that intersection since construction began. Over a number of months we have made multiple contacts with both TDOT and Knoxville City traffic engineering, with each of these entities referring us back to the other. It appears that unless TDOT hears from enough individuals who have either had or witnessed accidents/near-misses at that intersection to make clear to them their responsibility for correcting this safety hazard (which they created), the problem–and the accidents– will continue until late 2019, when consruction is due to be completed.

Therefore, I strongly urge you to contact TDOT officials to apprise them of your concerns. Below is contact information for Tracie Widner, TDOT Operations District Supervisor, and Keisha Gregory, TDOT Administration Services Assistant.

Tracie Widner
865-594-2337
tracie.widner@tn,gov

Keisha Gregory
865-594-3849
keisha.gregory@tn.gov

There’s no guarantee that this approach will be effective, but there is a chance that TDOT will respond when, due to the number of complaints received, they have a more complete picture of our concerns.

Rosemary Burr