Transportation

The Rural Planning Organizations (RPOs) were created through a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the Tennessee Development Districts as a separate and discreet process by which TDOT solicits input from rural local officials and interested transportation stakeholders. The twelve RPOs each have a Coordinator that provides staff assistance for facilitation of the organization’s business on multi-modal issues that include aviation, rail, port/waterway, public transit, freight/trucking, bicycle/pedestrian, and highway projects. This process provides for continuing, comprehensive, coordinated transportation planning and programming in the non-metropolitan areas of the state.

The RPOs are comprised of a Technical Committee and an Executive Board. The Technical Committee meets quarterly to develop and study local and regional projects. Representation comes from county highway superintendents, Joint Economic and Community Development Boards, and city and county appointees who are knowledgeable about transportation issues. Additional membership slots are filled by representatives of the multi-modal disciplines. Members are responsible for making recommendations to the RPO Executive Board regarding any necessary actions relating to the multi-modal transportation planning process. County and city mayors, along with local state legislators, make up the Executive Board, which serves as the policy making body of the organization. This board establishes the goals, priorities and objectives for the RPO and makes formal recommendations to TDOT for requests for study and funding.  Counties that participate in the Southeast Tennessee RPO are Bledsoe, portions of Bradley, Grundy, McMinn, Marion, Meigs, Polk, Rhea, and Sequatchie. Please contact us if you would like more information about RPOs.

Corridor K is one of the RPO's most important transportation projects.  It is part of the Appalachian Highway Development System created by the Appalachian Regional Commission in 1965.  The route follows US-64/US-74 from its western terminus at Exit 20 on Interstate 75 in Bradley County to Asheville, North Carolina.   Corridor K and its counterparts in the system were created to open the impoverished areas of Appalachia to economic development.  A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was circulated in September 2003, but the Tennessee Department of Transportation did not act on it within the required three-year period.  For this reason, no alignments or cost estimates exist for the route at this time.  The Corridor K Economic Development and Transportation Study by Wilbur Smith Associates was completed and submitted to Southeast Development & TDOT on February 1, 2008, click here to view.  To access the Wilbur Smith Corridor K Green Plan, click here.  Results of this study will provide input into the purpose and need statement of the EIS.  Meanwhile, RPO members continue to advocate for continued funding of Corridor K.

For further information, please contact Chuck Hammond at (423) 424-4264 or by e-mail at chammond@sedev.org.