Anyone that has driven Chapman Highway in the last ten years knows how the road has changed. More traffic, increased businesses on the side, more traffic, faster drivers, more traffic, more wrecks and yes more traffic.
I started coming to East Tennessee in 1995, traveling from Nashville to Pigeon Forge for business. Exiting off on 407 at I-40, we would enjoy the short ride down Hwy 66 and arrive at our store with virtually no problems. Sure you had the traffic lights, but it really wasn’t that bad.
Once we had to travel to Maryville from Pigeon Forge and I discovered Chapman Highway. Driving up the highway we found a quiet town nestled in the hills with not a lot of people around. Seymour had a bank on the corner, a Food city in the middle and racetrack on the side. It seemed like a perfect place to live. My wife and I thought that we would like to come to the town, and eventually we did. We could drive on Chapman Highway from Sevierville and sometimes only see one or two cars, that drive doesn’t exist anymore, not even in the wee hours of the night.
Immediately the change in Chapman Highway was evident. There were many more cars, you couldn’t ride to Sevierville and not see a steady string of traffic. It seemed like someone opened the floodgates and out rushed everyone, hurrying to get to their destination. Seymour was on the verge of being a city.
That was nearly five years ago, now Chapman is like an interstate. Every tourist has found out our little secret of how to get to Sevierville from Knoxville. Unfortunately the TDOT hasn’t. The road is smooth, but not wide enough by a long shot.
Just in the last two weeks Chapman Highway has experienced five wrecks, most of them because someone crossed the centerline and hit another car. There have been injuries, and expensive property damage. Motorists are forced to sit through the cleanup period because there isn’t enough room to get by. It’s truly a disgrace!
Driving the road through Seymour there are highway markers, ones that were supposed to be used for road construction on the road. Plans were to add a left hand turn lane from Smoky Crossing all the way to the 411/Boyd’s Creek/Chapman Highway traffic light. Those plans are now on hold.
A concerted effort by the citizens of Sevier County needs to be organized to let the commissioners know this is an unacceptable delay. How many have to be hurt or killed before it becomes evident that this needs to be a priority? The excuse of money can no longer be used; we can’t afford not to get this done. The cost in damage, injuries, and time has to be weighed to the cost of the project. If the rumor of property owners having a problem with the construction is true, the owner of that property needs to get off his or her butt and realize what the delay costs all of us in the county. The cost of one of your acres is nowhere close to the cost of a life.
This road wasn’t designed for the traffic it carries at this time, and with the growth from Seymour to Sevierville, it’s only going to get worse. Get in touch with your commissioner and let them know how you feel, a little writing can go along way.

… read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.