KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Tuesday, crews with the Tennessee Department of Transportation broke ground on a new project to widen a 1.6-mile stretch of Alcoa Highway from Cherokee Trail to Woodson Drive.
The plan is one of seven construction projects on the highway. TDOT says the years-long construction on Alcoa Highway is their biggest project to date, and in total will cost $1 billion.
This project from Cherokee Trail to Woodson Drive specifically costs $187 million. This project will widen the four-lane highway to six lanes, add concrete barriers, as well as eliminate left-hand turns.
TDOT says all of its projects are aimed toward making roads safer.
Governor Bill Lee was in Knoxville at the groundbreaking event at the University of Tennessee Medical Center as a part of his "Build With Us" tour.
"If you're going to be one of the fastest growing states in America, and you're going to have companies coming here from all across the world, and investing in areas like Knox County and East Tennessee when you're going to have traffic and commerce and economic activity like you see in Alcoa highway, then if you don't invest in the future of that, then you will stop all of that from happening," Lee said.
TDOT says around 70,000 people drive the Alcoa Highway every day.