On Tuesday, January 10, 2017 Captain John Farmer, NavCAl Marine Services presented an overview of the importance of barge traffic in East Tennessee to members of the TPO Technical Committee. Captain Farmer discussed how barging meets the the national and state freight goals: Improve economic efficiency, productivity and competitiveness, reduce highway and rail congestion, improve safety, security and resilience and reduce adverse environmental and community impacts.
10th Annual Tour De Lights
Friday, December 16, marked the 10th annual Tour de Lights bike parade. More than 1,000 people, decked out in creative holiday attire for themselves and their bikes, joined in the ride.
The first draft of Mobility Plan 2040 is Now Available
We want to hear from you! We are seeking community input until the end of January on this draft.
It will also be reviewed by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and other agencies over the coming months. As revisions are requested by our state and federal partners, they will be posted to the Mobility Plan 2040 website.
Public Review and Comment Period: KAT Draft Title VI Report
Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) is required, every three years, to submit a Title VI Report to the Federal Transit Administration.
Title VI is part of the Civil Rights Act that ensures no person shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, be discriminated against under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. KAT coordinates Title VI activities with the Knoxville Regional TPO. This draft Report will be approved by the Knoxville Transportation Authority (KTA) on December 15, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. in the Main Assembly Room of the City County Building located at 400 Main Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. The KTA meeting is open to the public and any person may attend and provide comment.
The DRAFT – KAT Title VI Report is available for review through the links provided below. For any questions or comments on the Report, please contact Doug Burton at the TPO at 400 Main Street, Suite 403, Knoxville, TN 37902 or at 865-215-3824 or at doug.burton@knoxplanning.org. If you want your comments read into the record at the KTA meeting you must have those to Doug Burton no later than December 14, 2016 at 4:00 p.m.
Input Sought on Revised Roadway Project Improvement List
A revised list of road, bicycle, pedestrian and transit projects proposed to receive federal funding over the next 25 years. has been released and the public is invited to comment. An interactive web tool has been created to collect input on the projects in Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Sevier counties.
Notice of Public Hearing: Program of Projects FTA Section 5307 & 5339
The Executive Board of the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) will hold a public hearing at its meeting on Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. in the Small Assembly Room of the City-County Building, 400 Main Street, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the purpose of considering public comment both written and oral on the proposed Program of Projects (POP) funded by Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5307 Urbanized Area Formula Transit Grant funds and FY 2016 Section 5339 Bus and Bus Facilities Grant funds. The City of Knoxville is the official designated recipient of the grant funds. The public involvement process, including the times established for public review and for allowing comment on the POP, follows the TPO’s TIP public involvement process, as allowed by FTA and in accordance with appropriate federal transit regulations. If there are no changes to the POP it will be considered final.
Interested persons or agencies, and particularly private transportation providers are encouraged to participate in the process. For information, to be mailed or faxed a copy of the POP, or to provide comments in advance of the meeting contact Dori Caron at the TPO at 400 Main Street, Suite 403, Knoxville, TN 37902; or by telephone at (865) 215-2694; or by e-mail at dori.caron@knoxplanning.org. Comments submitted in advance of the meeting by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 will be read into the minutes at the meeting.
Knox County Team Creates Video on Walkability for NACo
Public Comments on Mobility Plan Now Available
Every four years, the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization updates the Mobility Plan, and TPO staff and partners are currently working on the 2017 update. The upcoming changes will build on the last plan, prioritize federal investment in the region’s transportation system over the next twenty-three years, and identify all anticipated projects during that time.
FY2017-2020 Draft Transportation Improvement Program Available for Public Comment
Submit comments to Elizabeth Watkins via email at elizabeth.watkins@knoxplanning.org or by phone at 865-215-3825.
The Knoxville Regional TPO completed a draft of the 2017-2020 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and is encouraging public comment from September 26, 2016 until October 25, 2016. The TIP provides a four-year list of multimodal transportation projects within the Knoxville Urban Area. The four-year investment program prioritizes roughly $910 million dollars of federal and non-federal funds for improvements to our roadways, bridges, transit systems, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities throughout the Knoxville Region.
The City of Knoxville, the designated recipient of Federal Transit Administration Section 5307 funds, has chosen to follow the public involvement process of the TIP to meet the Program of Projects public involvement requirements. The public participation process for the TIP does satisfy the public participation process for the Program of Projects.
The draft TIP can be viewed and downloaded on the TPO website at knoxtrans.org/tip, where you can submit comments. Copies of the draft TIP are available for review at the TPO offices located at 400 Main St., Suite 403, Knoxville, TN.
Comments can be submitted via any of the following methods:
- By letter, mailed to the TPO offices located at 400 Main St., Suite 403, Knoxville, TN 37902
- At the September 28, 2016 TPO Executive Board Meeting
- At the October 11, 2016 TPO Technical Committee Meeting
- At the October 26, 2016 TPO Executive Board Meeting
* All meetings are held at 9:00 a.m. in the Small Assembly Room of the City County Building (400 Main Street, Knoxville, TN).
If you need assistance or accommodation for a disability, please contact the TPO at 865-215- 2694 or dori.caron@knoxplanning.org and we will be glad to work with you in obliging any reasonable request.
Knoxville Receives Grant From Federal Transit Administration
We are pleased to share some big news – Knoxville was awarded a $200,000 grant through the Rides to Wellness program of the Federal Transit Administration!
Knoxville Area Transit will manage the award, building a program to improve access to healthcare for Knoxville residents.
The FTA grant will fund a project between KAT and the 2-1-1 call center to create a single point of contact that will help older adults, people with disabilities, and others access transit to take them to medical appointments. The project will improve local coordination of transit and healthcare services by training 2-1-1 staff, medical providers, and residents on how to use KAT buses.
TPO and MPC staff assisted KAT in the grant application by identifying the population to be served by the new program. Local areas with high priority populations, those neighborhoods with greatest social and economic need, were first identified during the Plan East Tennessee initiative. Among the challenges faced by priority populations is limited access to quality healthcare. KAT’s newly funded effort will be a great step in tackling local healthcare barriers.