Herald Staff Writer
As Seymour continues to grow, so does the local traffic problems. Two major areas of concern are the US 411/Chapman Highway intersection, and the burgeoning Boyd’s Creek area, near the Seymour Primary, Intermediate, Middle and High Schools, respectively.
Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) officials are not compelled to do any extending of the lane currently, one local worker stated “there’s already a right-turn lane”. In actuality, the right-turn lane onto Chapman Highway toward Sevierville and the through lane toward the schools are shared, with roughly a five to ten foot area for traffic turning right. Woefully inadequate to handle morning commute traffic. The two lanes together are not striped off to indicate more clearly which lane belongs to through or right-turn only traffic.
The striping alone might make the area flow better.
Extension of the lane on Hwy 411 at Chapman, to allow for smoother traffic flow would entail the use of a portion of the land owned by Sevier County Bank’s Seymour office.
TDOT, by “Right of Eminent Domain”, could in fact take the land and then give the bank fair market value to compensate the loss. Sevier County Bank has already provided land before, when the Department of Transportation widened the turning area previously. At the time no-one could have predicted the enormous population and traffic growth Seymour is experiencing that made the move obsolete by the time the project was completed.
To make matters worse, commuters throughout the day are using the bank parking lot as a roadway to enter or exit Chapman Highway without doing business at the bank. Needless to say, this is dangerous and illegal. “I have personally stood in the lot in the mornings and stopped people driving through. They (drivers) have almost run over our customers and employees”, said bank President R.B. Summitt.
With traffic normally backed up far past N. Knob Creek rd., something has to give. “Reality is that people take shortcuts. We have studied the problem of using our parking lot as a shortcut and we don’t want to inconvenience our customers with speedbumps or moving the entrances”, state Summitt. But he agrees it is dangerous, and getting worse. Summitt adds, “We have had little accidents” cutting through the lot and the police reports reflected the drivers were using the parking lot as a shortcut illegally.
The growing concern near the schools area is the overall safety of children. Sevier County Sheriffs Department Deputy Roy Hodges states “the area around the school is loaded with traffic for about an hour in the morings and afternoons, daily.” When asked about the possibility of a light or widening the area surrounding the schools, Hodges responded “A light would be one possible solution. The widening of the roadway might cause through traffic to speed more though and that would be dangerous” for children and others cars. With so much congestion, problems frequently occur. Motorists are urged to follow posted speed limits in the school zones and exercise patience. Seymour Middle School has been using left and right lane signs directing traffic to alleviate confusion and possible accidents. Patrol officers like Officer Feder, and Roy Hodges, among others are posted to ensure the areas run smoothly. Some students live close enough to the school to walk home and motorists must be alert to possible persons near the roadway.
In another bit of traffic news, the road widening project slated for US 411 from Seymour to Maryville has been put on hold. TDOT in Nashville confirmed Wednesday to The Seymour Herald that “TDOT has studied the route in the past, but at this time, there is no activity and it (the 411 widening project) is not on the current schedule” for improvement. Previous reports clearly stated that the Hwy 411 widening project had been accepted as a planned future project, are not accurate. The rapid growth of the area on US 411 now includes the Seymour Business Park, The Karate University, The Barn, Apartments, Duplexes and a small strip mall.
Prospective business or industry thinking of locating in the park and public presure would more than likely rekindle the need for TDOT to place the Hwy 411 widening project back on the priority list.
Progress comes with a price tag and the current price is skyrocketing with the realizations that Seymour is a great town to live, work and play in. As we know, difficult decisions to protect and properly grow Seymour also must be factored into the cost of making Seymour a premier location for business and residents in the southeast.
Some alleviation of traffic dangers in Seymour have already been addressed by TDOT at the request of citizens and politicians. Turn lanes have been added in several areas of Chapman Highway, reducing some rear-end accidents, as have traffic lights to alleviate congestion is certain locations. Residents must voice concern over the traffic issues to local elected officials or TDOT for something to be done. Tennessee Department of Transportation Public Affairs person Deborah Fehr states “If local officials or citizens have concerns about a particular road or intersection, they may contact the regional TDOT office in Knoxville and someone will investigate the situation.” Fred Corum is Region 1 Director and David Borden is Assistant Director. The Regional TDOT numbers are (865) 594-9105 or (865) 594-9125.

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