07/16/2026
*********MORGANTON ROAD PROJECT UPDATE************
"The Morganton Road Project was commissioned by The Blount County Highway Department, City Of Maryville, and Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) to address and make improvements on the section of Morganton Road from William Blount Drive to Foothills Mall Drive. The project was submitted to the Knoxville TPO for consideration and was approved for a total project budget of $9,070,690. We selected C2RL Engineers to complete the NEPA (Environmental Study), PE-DESIGN, and ROW . The initial funding source was High Priority Projects (HPP) set aside by Congress in the amount of $750,000 (100% Federal Funding NO Local Match). This covered the Engineering Design and Right-Of-Way (ROW) studies to determine a true cost estimate. The NEPA requirement was addressed by C2RL through their Consultant. Note- This project was being managed through the TDOT Local Programs Office through the TPO Knoxville Office. Basically, we had to have an approved NEPA- Environmental Study to proceed with the design effort.
During the work on the NEPA document we were faced with COVID and this slowed the process. At the same time, property values in Blount County continued to escalate. Our objective was to address safe traffic movements through this corridor and make improvements which included turn lanes, a pedestrian trail (satisfying the need for multi-modal traffic options), overall road alignment, resurfacing and striping. As we entered the design phase there was 84 land parcels substantially impacted, including two separate Service Stations. We evaluated the overall budget costs and determined that ROW acquisition alone would require in excess of 9.7 Million. Note- the funding was in the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) through TPO with an 80-20 cost share. The federal government will fund 80% and the local governments fund 20%. With the approved NEPA Plan the overall cost had escalated to over 24 Million. After careful consideration, the Highway Superintendent made the decision based on the Budget to focus on key critical areas to improve safety, reduce physical hazards in the roadway area and pave the entire roadway with Blount County Paving Crew. The two key areas for Blount County include improvements at the intersection of Morganton Road and William Blount Drive and the access point at Maryville Christian School. The City of Maryville will focus on Howard Jones/Big Springs intersection with Morganton Road and at Foothills Mall Drive. The project will be funded individually by the local jurisdictions.
Bottom line- The total project cost including Right-Of-Way have increased way beyond the original Budget established in July,2018 when the project was created and we do not have the funding availability to complete the total project at the scope originally established for the project. Therefore, we are working to make key improvements within our Budget to provide the most impact for the budget available.
