KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Potholes, repairs and frustration—these three things are becoming more common in East Tennessee.
Poor roadway conditions have plagued Knoxville. It's perplexed city leaders, but they have a plan to fix it—with your money.
Legends Auto and Fleet in Knoxville says that the most common car damage they see is from potholes.
"It's been at least one case a week or one every other week," mechanic Ian McDaniel said.
If you end up hitting a bad enough pothole, it can do damage to your car and your wallet.
"You're not just going to get more wear and tear in your tires. But you're also going to get more wear and tear on the front-end bars. You know, the stuff that keeps your wheels straight, the stuff that keeps your wheels on," McDaniel said.
Knoxville plans to pave 39 miles of roads this year, which costs about $256,000 per mile and is paid for by your tax dollars.
Roads are paved every 10, 15 or 20 years, depending on how busy they are.
"If a roadway is getting complaints, or we look at it and it looks like it's deteriorating faster, we will add it to the list, and we will not leave it unpaved," Knoxville Civil Engineer Shawn Fitzpatrick said.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation is responsible for highways and state routes.
"We're one of only a few states that operates with no transportation debt. Sometimes that means that we don't get to projects as quickly as we would like to," TDOT Community Relations Officer Mark Nagi said.
So how bad is the problem? Knoxville and TDOT received 409 pothole requests from July 2022 to June 2023.
"Our maintenance folks are on those roads every day, but we don't see everything immediately. So, we want people to let us know what they're seeing in their area," Nagi said.
The repairs cost $361,000, but the budget only set aside $272,500. TDOT said that doesn't stop needed work.
"That pothole budget has had to increase even more. So, we'll have to find the money in other areas and take that from other budgets," Nagi said.
TDOT is also working on bigger projects like the one currently taking place on I-640.
"It has been in the works for a long time, we believe that this is going to be a much longer-term fix for that roadway," Nagi said.
The battle of keeping up the roads isn't a problem specific to Knoxville or Tennessee as a whole.
"I think everybody needs more upkeep on their roads. Because they're all hard to maintain, so they all need to be maintained," McDaniel said.
You can report potholes and poor road conditions here in Knoxville through the My Knoxville app, calling 311 or on the city's website. If you find an issue on a state road, you can call 833-TDOT-FIX or submit a request online.
Editor's Note: The story has been corrected to clarify it specifically concerns the city of Knoxville, not Knox County at large.