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Letters regarding Corridor K in TN, NC, or its entirety: If you have a letter that you have written to the media, elected official, or government official regarding responsible transportation, or have seen one published, please let us know.

WaysSouth Response to Mr. Lewis

By: Jim Grode

Dear Mr. Lewis:

WaysSouth is pleased to submit these comments regarding the proposed Corridor K project in Graham County. WaysSouth is a grassroots nonprofit organization working to promote responsible transportation practices that preserve the unique heritage and environment of Southern Appalachia. With more than forty organizations working with us, we represent over 1.2 million citizens.

Western North Carolina in general, and Graham County in particular, are special and unique areas of the South. Their beautiful mountains, rivers, and valleys have supported human and wildlife populations for untold centuries and continue to do so. They deserve a transportation system that provides needed access while still maintaining a high quality of life and the natural environment on which that quality of life depends. We support and applaud efforts to improve the transportation network of this region.

We do not, however, support NCDOT's proposal to build a massive and intrusive four-lane highway from US 129 in Robbinsville to NC 28 in Stecoah, "Corridor K." NCDOT asserts that the proposal will serve four major purposes: improved system linkage, highway capacity, economic development, and safety. In fact, NCDOT's own data shows that the proposed four-lane highway is not only unnecessary to meet these goals, it may actually be counterproductive. And it will come at an extreme cost both financially and to the cultural heritage and environment of this unique and largely pristine area--the very reasons people come to the area in the first place.

We therefore do not support construction of the Corridor K project as proposed, but instead urge NCDOT to employ a program of well-designed, targeted, modest upgrades and improvements to the existing two-lane primary road network in Graham County, so that Graham County can have true economic development reflecting the best of today's thinking rather than an unnecessary and wasteful four-lane highway conceived fifty years ago.

NCDOT's failure to consider a two-lane alternative is unlawful and deprives the public of the opportunity to provide meaningful input on how such an option could be implemented. Read more...

Other Letters to Mr. Lewis:

Times Free Press Letter to the Editor
January 17, 2010

Bypass problems by moving to city

Despite all of the problems that have occurred due to the rockslide in the Ocoee Gorge a couple of months ago, there is still not a need for a bypass road to be built there.
All roads need maintenance, and while the gorge road can be buried in rockslides every century or so, a bypass road cutting across the mountains can also have washout areas which close down the road.

So many of the people who have been complaining about the closed road are people who commute to Cleveland or Chattanooga from Ducktown each day. Here's an idea: move to Cleveland or Chattanooga! The rest of us live outside of the mountains and visit them when we can, and this is something you can do too. It is a waste and bad for the environment to be driving so far each day anyway.

Also, the Ducktown-area hospitals can be improved so that better care can be had without traveling through a twisting river gorge or across high mountains to get to the big cities. There are also the hospital helicopters which transport the most needy patients anyway. So there is still only a need to fix the road we already have.

WILL LANCE

Original aritcle can be viewed here (sixth article down on page)

Polk County News Letter to the Editor
January 10, 2010 Polk County News

To the Editor

I visit the Polk County News online regularly and find the voting poll they have set up on their web page very interesting. I find it surprising that the vast majority of the citizens that have participated in this vote have overwhelmingly cast their votes to fix the existing Hwy 64 through the Ocoee Gorge (over 75%) compared to 15% who have cast their votes for a 4 lane bypass. Maybe now that the rockslide that has Polk County in total grid-lock has made the citizens realize that it is way past time for TDOT to do something that is meaningful and to get off their buts and do it NOW not in 10 to 15 years from now with a new 4 lane destructive path through the spine of the Cherokee National Forest north or south of the Ocoee Gorge. When is layman common sense going to be applied to solve the safety problems and improve the road that already exists? It's time to take action now and not keep wasting the taxpayers money on more studies and prolonging what really needs to be done, fix the existing road bed, it's already in place and it can be done despite what TDOT says otherwise.

Lets also not forget that the Cherokee National Forest belongs to all of the citizens of the United States of America not just the small group who live in and around the Copper basin of Polk County who are screaming for a 4 lane fix that would be environmentally destructive and take 10 to 15 years to come to fruition. Common sense needs to be applied compared to short sided thinking and TDOT needs to quit posturing itself in the political boondoggle of Corridor K and finally do something that is real for the citizens of Polk County.

Bruce Walters

Original aritcle can be viewed here (third article down on page)

Polk County News Letter to the Editor
December 29, 2009 Polk County News

To the Editor:

I suppose it was inevitable that the rockslide in the gorge would lead to a big push from the people who will profit from building a four-lane road through Polk County. The road builders will make millions, the politicians will make thousands ("campaign contributions"), and the big landowners who can influence the route will do just fine. Another wave of self-righteous indignation against those nasty outsiders was also inevitable. How dare they think the national forest is more important than my commute to Cleveland? I fully expect a few more editorials thundering against those who think "plants are more important than people" and quite a few more promising that an interstate highway through the wilderness won't harm it at all.

But still, when you see your friends about to make a big mistake, you feel like you ought to say something. Even if you know they're probably going to get all loud and self-righteous and try to blame you for their problems. Yes, we need to fix the river road. I've been saying that for years. I go through there at least once a week. And yes, I know how far it is from Ducktown to Tellico Plains. I also know how far it is over the Kimsey and a few ways to get from Coker Creek to Childers Creek. But no, a bypass is not a good idea. For one thing, just because it's a four-lane doesn't mean it isn't going to have rockslides. Isn't it amazing how everyone is ignoring the obvious fact that Interstate 40 is closed due to a rockslide, and is likely to remain closed longer than 64?

It would take years to build this road, and we need help now. (A lot of us probably wo''t live long to see it even if it is built.) The environmental groups will fight any new road to the bitter end, and I think they should. The national forests were established for all Americans - not just us - and they should stand forever. After all, they aren't making any more of it. It just flat doesn't make sense to build new roads to carry truck traffic with all our energy and pollution problems. Instead of continuing to subsidize the trucking industry with billions of our taxpayer dollars, we ought to rebuild the railroads. They are a much more energy efficient way to carry freight.

The economic argument is based on a study that's decades old. It was done long before the development of our tourism economy. Yes, a four lane will probably bring a few more gas stations, fast food places, and motels to Ducktown, if that's what you mean by "economic development." But it will also destroy our tourism economy. Tourists don't come here to see interstate highways and toll plazas. They come because we still have something that's special and beautiful and wild. Face it, we just don't have the infrastructure to attract manufacturing, and that isn't going to change just because we have a new road. Blue Ridge has lost the manufacturing it had and can't attract any new industry. In fact, they've pretty much given up trying, because it's hopeless. And Blue Ridge already has a four-lane road. What makes you think Ducktown is going to be any different?

We could fix the river road right now, and it would make a real difference. Even if a bypass is built, the river road will probably carry as much traffic as it does now, with people going rafting, tourists going to the Whitewater Center, and people using it to avoid the toll on the bypass. (Will you pay a $5 or $6 toll every time you go to Cleveland and back?) The road through the gorge will have to be fixed eventually, so why do you think they don't want to fix it now?

The boosters seem to think that the wonderful, benevolent government wants to build this hideously expensive road just so we can get to back and forth to Cleveland a little faster. I'm sorry, but it just isn't so. They want to build it to take all the truck traffic off I-40 west of Asheville. The truckers have been screaming about it for years, because they have to stay in the right lane. It's going to be a truck route, it's going to be a toll road, and it's going to be scary enough that our old people probably won't want to drive on it. If you have no idea what it would be like to have I-40 rolling through Ducktown, why don't you ride over there and take a look? After all, we're about to make a decision that will affect this area forever. We ought to make it on the basis of the facts, not false hopes and crazy dreams of instant economic prosperity.

Highway 64 should have been fixed a long ago, for safety reasons alone. TDOT hasn't done it because they are holding our safety hostage to a four-lane bypass. I hate to tell you, but we're really only a pawn in a much bigger game. We're like lambs being led to the slaughter, but it's much worse than that. We're like lambs demanding to be led to the slaughter.

Clyde Holler
Morganton, Georgia

Original aritcle can be viewed here (second article down on page)

Now is the Time to Fix the Highway
December 12, 2009, Times Free Press

Corridor K (U.S. 64) is an east-west road through mountains that run north-south. Over time the Ocoee River has cut a channel through these mountains, providing a gorge that the current road utilizes. Geologic processes continually erode and reform mountains producing rock slides such as on U.S. 64, I-40, Cummings Highway, W Road, etc. in the same month.

There is no "mountain-top" route available for this road. A series of three to four ridges must be surmounted to run another road either north or south of the present route. These will involve roads with a footprint similar to or worse than Monteagle Mountain (I-24) with similar ice and snow problems in the winter and equally prone to rock slides.

We should worry less about providing a way to drive through Polk County than a way for residents to get access to jobs/medical care and for people (tourists, rafters, hikers) to access Polk County as a destination. TDOT is missing a "golden opportunity" to be pro-active and fix some of the other problems with this stretch of road while it's shut down for rock slide removal. ARC is missing the same opportunity to provide some of the funds necessary to accomplish this.

BETTY J. PETTY
Member
Corridor K
Citizens Resource Team

Original post can be viewed here (fifth article on page)

Changes needed on Highway 64
September 14, 2009, Times Free Press

U.S. Highway 64 in the Ocoee River Gorge needs safety deficiency improvements. Over 40 percent (94) of 228 vehicle crashes in the gorge from 2004 trough 2006 occurred in the Mile 14 and Mile 15 vicinity (at and either side of the precipitous "trucker's curve"). A westbound tunnel through the steep ridge is a necessity to reduce collisions. Both a short curved tunnel and longer tunnel should be evaluated.

Interchanges should be constructed so traffic into the Whitewater Center and rafting put-ins and take-outs at Ocoee No. 2 Dam does not have to cross lanes at grade. Additional right-of-way may be needed north of the existing roadway near the Olympic Center. Conservation minded people should allow a slight modification of Little Frog Wilderness southern boundary in order to avoid back country destruction on Kimsey Mountain or from the possible Corridor K southern route very near Big Frog Wilderness.

The evaluation in the 2003 TDOT EIS was that "Alternative Following Kimsey Highway" and "Alternative Entirely to South of Ocoee River" both had too many adverse environmental consequences. The current Corridor K study would face difficulty if it does not reach the same conclusion.

- Kirk Johnson

Original post can be viewed here (last article on page)

Ocoee highway wasteful, destructive
August 2, 2009, Chattanooga Free Times Press

The Tennessee Department of Transportation should put road construction on pause. States around the nation are discovering that it is madness to continue building ever more roads. Governments are collectively billions of dollars in the red regarding basic roadway maintenance of the type that prevents tragedies such as the bridge collapse in Minnesota two years ago. One specific project in major need of being permanently shelved is a proposal to build a four-lane highway around the Ocoee Gorge.

Such a project would be a bad idea because it wastes tax money, would be one more roadway in need of perpetual maintenance, and it would destroy much of one of the state's top natural areas. What a waste it would be to destroy mountainsides and forests (also tax reserves) in order to provide a road which would really be useful only a few days of the week at certain times of the year (during rafting weekends). I believe this is a good time to kill off this destructive highway project while the economy remains in a slump and politicians can think more clearly -- without all of the dollar signs in their heads.

WILL LANCE

Original post can be viewed here (sixth article down on page)

Request for Public Input Meetings in North Carolina for Corridor K
May 20, 2009

Sixteen conservation groups interested in the economic and environmental wellbeing of Western North Carolina joined WaysSouth in urging the North Carolina Department of Transportation to conduct public input meetings regarding the US 74 Relocation, Graham County, North Carolina from US 129 to NC 28 in Stecoah, which is part of the North Carolina section of the larger transportation project known as Corridor K. NCDOT and FHWA have previously announced their intention to hold one or more meetings in Robbinsville, North Carolina, and we requested that those meetings be held as soon as practicable. In addition, we urged them to hold meetings in Asheville and Murphy, North Carolina, as well. To read the letter, click here.

Editorial Opinion
May 6, 2009, Polk County News

TDOT's new approach to highway planning is a far cry from the days when the agency would come up with a plan and present the finished product to the public for comment. With the Context Sensitive Solutions approach, the agency's Corridor K contractor is required to develop a project that is sensitive to the local environment and also to have a Citizens Resource Team involved from the beginning.

By all accounts, the CRT is not a rubber-stamp group. Members were screened by a consultant to get a diverse group who represent all interested parties but are able to work as a team and be open-minded. Team members are obviously committed to the responsibility, as the day-long meetings have been packed with information and followed up with homework. Read more...

Download .pdf of Editorial Opinion - 5/6/09

Letters to the Editor
April 1, 2009, Polk County News

To the Editor,

I'll bet a lot of readers of the Polk County News got a nice self-righteous buzz from
Laura Lewis' attack on Bruce Walters in the March 18th issue. "How dare he write a letter to the editor! She sure told him! Go back to Florida! And stay there!"

But what if he's right? What if the river road could be made safe for a lot less money?
Right now, not dozens of years in the future? What if it doesn't make sense to build a
superhighway for truck traffic through the middle of the Cherokee National Forest? Aren't long distance shippers already moving from trucks to much cheaper rail alternatives? Read more...

Letters to the Editor
March, 18, 2009, Polk County News

To the Editor,

In response to Mr. Bruce Walters' letter week before last, about corridor K, I would like to ask him....You think the wildlife and The National Forest "needs to be protected at all cost"? Well, how do you feel about about protecting the humans that have to drive that dangerous road everyday to get back and forth to work? You don't think that they need "protected at all cost"?

You seem to know a lot about the history of Polk County. Especially for someone that doesn't even live here (your letter says you live in Largo Florida, but own property at Campbell Cove). Well in doing your research of this county and its roads, did you happen to tally up the number of people that have gotten killed on the River Road? Why don't you look that up? I don't know a soul that has 2.3 billion dollars (what you said the cost of a new road would be). But I do know that you could ask any person that has had a loved one die on that "beautiful" road and they would tell you, they would give every cent of it to have their daughter or son or mother or father or husband or wife back! They would do anything "at all cost" (as you say) to keep it from happening again to some other person --If for nothing else but to spare another family of the pain that they themselves went through. Read more...

Letters to the Editor
March, 4, 2009, Polk County News

To the Editor:

In a recent copy of the Polk County News I noticed an article about our elected officials considering the possibility of charging higher fees for ETC to do business in Polk County. I appreciate the fact that we have a deficit that we must address and something drastic has to be done to raise the million dollars rafting tax payback, but why do it on the backs of ETC customers?

If ETC is forced to pay higher fees to do business in Polk County it will have to be passed on to their customers. Read more...

It is time to dump
Corridor K thoughts
Feb. 20, 2009, Chattanooga Times Free Press

Bravo! for your stand regarding the folly of the Corridor K proposal (Times editorial, Feb. 14). In an age of surging government waste, this certainly would be an exaggeration in largesse. The reason proponents offer for such an absurd project is to make it easier for trucks to bypass U.S. 64 through the Ocoee Gorge, citing a small number (perhaps three?) of sharp turns. Read more...

Letter to the Editor
February 18, 2009

Dear Editor.

I am Randy Parrish; I have lived in Polk County for seven years. I first moved here because I found a beautiful lot with the view of the mountains in my back yard. After living here I became interested in photography. I begin to ask around about roads and trails to take my pictures. I never thought about history or anything about Polk County being any different from another county.

My lot was just off Ladd Springs Road so I thought the springs would make a beautiful picture. But to my surprise no one could tell me where to find them. During my search I found more history and more places to take pictures of. I found out that Polk County had more history in it than most states did. Polk County was the first place in Tennessee ever seen by the white man -- Desoto in 1540s. They came in to Polk County down the Hiwassee River at what is now Reliance and Savannah Shores. They encountered the first Cherokee settlement at what use to be Columbus. Read More...

Letters to the Editor
Feb. 18, 2009, Polk County News

To the Editor:

I would like to commend Randy Parrish on his letter to the editor and his overall concern for the future of Polk County. Randy's appreciation for its rich history and unsurpassed beauty and in his words "trying to inform his neighbors about our history and the importance of it" is in my mind cutting right to the heart of the matter. From the original inhabitance of the Cherokee Indians and the first pioneer explorers to settle the area, to industrial mining and to present day eco-tourism, Polk County does indeed have a very rich history.

One of Randy's major concerns is Corridor K and how it will impact the Ocoee Gorge or the historic Kimsey Mountain Highway that skirts the mountain tops of Little Frog Mountain, also known as "Kimsey Mountain". Both of these roads have had a very unique role in history and the fate of the two roads have always been intertwined - as one rose, the other fell. Read more...

Forget highway boondoogles
February 14, 2009, Chattanooga Times Free Press

It is still unclear how the new stimulus bill will be apportioned to the states, and how much of the infrastructure funding set aside in the final version of the bill will end up in the treasury of each state. But it is clear that most state governments, including those in the South, already have compiled long lists of transportation projects for which they like stimulus funds, both for repairs and new highways.

The final version of the stimulus bill appears to reserve $29 billion for highway projects, $8.4 billion for new or improved transit projects, and $8 billion for high-speed rail. These funds will be apportioned to the states based on a complex formula, and the amounts have not yet been determined. Read more...

For a downloadable .pdf of this letter, click here.

To see a .pdf of this letter as it appeared in Chattanooga Free Times Press, click here.

ARC 1964 report invalid to justify Corridor K

Letter to John Snow, NC state senator

Hi, John:

Judy and I have been enjoying--and appreciating--your regular emailed updates; this is consistent with, and predates, our new President's commitment to transparency in government. We are proud to have supported both of you to your positions of leadership.

John, I know that we won't always agree on every issue, but there is one in particular that I hope you will reconsider your position; that's the support of a new, highly intrusive highway known as Corridor K. I've prepared the following litany for your consideration; please read it. I will look forward to your considered opinion. I know that your experience in the judiciary has prepared you to consider dissident arguments. I honor that. Read more...

8/26/08, Cherokee Scout
Opinion by Clyde Holler
Corridor K would not benefit Volkswagen

"Len James tried to make a case for the construction of a four-lane bypass of the Ocoee Gorge on the basis of the needs of the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.

There are a number of errors in his reasoning that can be easily verified by consulting the coverage in the business press.

First, the Chattanooga Volkswagen site already has a rail link, which was provided as part of the deal. Most new Volkswagens will be shipped by rail, not truck. Second, this assembly plant will be building cars for the domestic market, not for export. There is no reason to worry about trucking these cars to an Atlantic port for shipment to Europe." Read more...