KODAK, Tenn. — KaTom, a restaurant supply company based in Kodak, asked Governor Bill Lee and the Commissioner of TDOT to build a new exit off I-40 because it's anticipating much more traffic from the planned Buc-ee's in Sevier County.
The letter comes after a traffic study anticipated 15,000 new car trips each day at Exit 407 once the new Buc-ee's opens, which is a nearly 60% increase from the more than 23,000 trips that pass through that exit each day.
"My fear is that this is going to be a traffic concern for not only local residents, but local businesses, as well as people who are passing through down the interstate," said Charley Bible, the VP of Business Development for KaTom.
Bible said traffic would back up at least a mile down the interstate before TDOT built the diverging diamond at Exit 407 in 2015. Now, he said he's worried traffic will back up once again if nothing is done when the Buc-ee's opens.
"That'll slow all those trucks and make it a much more cumbersome process to drop off and pick up merchandise," Bible said.
In the letter to Gov. Lee and the TDOT Commissioner, KaTom said traffic is already a problem at Exit 407, and all the planned development there is going to make things worse. Exit 407 is how most people get to Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains.
In the letter, KaTom asked the state to build a new exit at mile marker 408 -- "Exit 408" -- as a way to address the anticipated issues.
Bible said Buc-ee's is good for Sevier County, and he's happy about all of the growth in Sevier County and in Kodak, but he just wants the roads to keep up.
On WBIR's Sunday talk show, Inside Tennessee, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally said traffic projects like these usually take 20 years to finish, though state leaders are trying to reduce that to 5 years.
TDOT said they have to secure funding for the project and get the Federal Highway Administration's blessing before an exit can be built.