The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 15

i THt TIMNESSEAN, Suwloy, Qetobgr 8, 1978 Choices: 15-A From Commissioner Shaw .1 Alternatives for 1440 Citizen participation essential to project 3- i 1 i if J.l -I PRESENT DESIGN This alternative is called present design since it ic an nnrlafp nf fhe nrieinal 1-440 nrnnosal in the I I 1 1 -3. jit lane, limited-access highway and have two to four auxiliary lanes to handle expected high volumes of traffic entering and leaving the interstate. This proposal would connect 1-40 west, 1-65 south, and 1-24 east. In addition there would be interchanges at West End, Hillsboro Road, Granny White Pike, and Nolensville Road. The interstate would be depressed in most residential areas, meaning it would be below ground level.

REDUCED DESIGN This alternative would be a limited access highway with the same interchanges and depressed design as the The proposal differs in that it would only have four through lanes along with two auxiliary lanes and a larger median area. 1 J' If transit use increases, the median could be used f1 -4 c-- Citizens involvement has been extremely important in the 1-440 project. Citizens have been instrumental in developing alternatives we studied and in identifying specific concerns that needed to be examined. This community involvement also has been responsible for significant changes in the design of 1-440 itself. By means of this open letter, 1 am asking you; to continue this important function of community interaction with your government.

Write me and let us know your thoughts on this project. Or come to the public hearing on 1-440 Friday, Saturday, arid Monday, October 13, 14, and 16 at trie Howard Office Complex on 2nd Avenue and tell us what you think about the alternatives, whether favorable or I If time does not permit you to attend the public hearing, you can still be "heard" by sending us your written comments by October 30. Both spoken and written comments have the same legal status. After; the department receives the hearing transcript and written comments, we will decide, based upon the findings of the enviromental impact statement and on the public sentiment, which alternative best serves Nashville's needs. I This decision will have to be concurred with by the Federal Highway Administration in the U.S.

Department of Transportation. Again I wish to express my appreciation to the community, both to citizens as individuals and as groups, for helping us as we try to solve transportation needs in an environmentally sensitive manner. t-WvW tvp POO xv ior preiereniiai treatment iur mass iiaubu auu carpools. Or, the extra space could one day be used for additional traffic lanes if automobile demands increase. BOULEVARD The boulevard is designed as a four-lane highway with access to all major and some minor 1 streets along the present 1-440 ROW.

It would interchange with 1-40, 65, and 24, and would have intersections with 14 pther local streets. Left-turn lanes would be built where necessary along with 1 Tn I I xranic signals, ine roaa wouia qc ai gruunt icvci li ind could be built with a median. NO-BUILD (widen existing streets) This alternative "is described as no-build there would not be any roadway built in the 1-440 ROW.There would be of necessity street and in-- tersection widenings to handle problems with crosstown travel congestion problems. Three general corridors would be widened to four or more lanes. These are White Bridge Road-Woodmont Blvd.

-Thompson" Lane; and Harding Place-Battery Lane. A new road would be constructed from West End to Jefferson Street to extend Blakemore to 1-40. ez cfc 1 1 i ril What9 taking so long with that road? INTERSTA1 WhatisdnEIS 4" An EIS is intended to be: a full disclosure document; simple enough for laymen to understand and yet detailed enough for experts; and a decision-making tool. Two months ago the Tennessee Department of Transportation distributed copies of the Draft EIS for 1-440. We sent this to numerous govern-mental agencies and many individuals.

However we recognize that even though many Nashvillians are interested in the project they lack time to read the entire EIS or don't even know about it. So in order to reach as many people as we are using this summary tabloid to briefly describe the project and some of the results of our en-, vironmental analysis. DEIS, NEPA, MPC, EIS, TDOT, FEIS, NegDec and FHWA are all catch words used in connection with the I-440 studies. The average person might think the highway planning business has been taken over by a foreign agency. Actually the initials all stand for agencies or different stages of studies involved in an enviromental assessment of a highway project.

The National Environmental Policy Act requires a detailed analysis of environmental effects of any major action using federal funds, -in this case a transportation improvement. This analysis, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is designed to fill several roles. Tennessee final design approval on the project. By June of that department had acquired Ten-', nessee Central's railroad ROW and -all ROW. from 1-65 to 1-24.

Nego- tiations were started on the rest. Two years later, 1-440 hit a stumbling block. The National Wildlife Federation brought a class-' action suit asking the FHWA be enjoined from exempting any project not under construction from prepay ration of an Environmental Impact' Statement (EIS). In July, 1973, the court ruled against the FHWA thus: forcing states, including Tennessee, to prepare environmental studies on' all major federal projects not yet' under construction. 1-440 was greatly affected by the ruling.

Even though the departments was ready to let a contract for con- struction, it had to start all over again back to step one and do a study to determine the location of the highway; Work proceeded slowly on the project for the next few years as the department concentrated on other highways throughout the state. 1-440 really got underway again in the fall of 1976 and by spring, 1977; five, public meetings had been held in the communities directly affected by 1-440 to get ideas from the residents on possible alternatives and concerns. Studies, surveys, traffic projections, coordination with other agencies an the massive job of writing up the findings took up the year or so after the public meetings. The draft EIS was completed in June and copies for the public received from the printer in August. began in 1964 when the department entered into an agreement i with Brighton Engineering Company to "develop design, right-of-way (ROW), and final construction ROW surveys were conducted along the proposed roadway with a hearing held on the section from I-65 to 1-24 in July, 1968, and from 1-40 to 1-65 in March of 1969.

Authorization from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to begin acquiring ROW came for the eastern section in December, 1968, and for the western section in August, 1970. To complete preliminary work on the project, a hearing on the 1-440 1-65 interchange was held in September 1969 with federal approval coming two months later; in November. And then, in December; 1969, the rules of highway building changed with passage by Congress of the National Environmental Pol-, icy Act (NEPA). The act requires environmental assessments for any major highway construction project using federal funds. This includes studying all feasible alternatives and their impacts on noise, air, and water quality standards along with social and economic ones.

At the end of 1970, Tennessee received interim guidelines on the new law from the FHWA and submitted a list of federal-aid projects already in advanced stages. In January, 1971, the department received concurrence from FHWA that plans for 1-440 did not require an environmental assessment since plans were at the ROW stage. In the same letter, FHWA gave Have you heard anyone recently say: "What's taking so long with that 1-440 project anyway?" or "The and been talking about it forever." Actually they have been talking about it for 23 years. The question is not an easy one to answer nor is it answered quickly. Red tape, bureaucratic processes, court decisions, and other pressing projects have all contributed to delaying the project.

But even though 1-440 was first proposed in 1955, no one planned to construct it that soon. In fact, all Tennessee interstate were first proposed in 1956 after passage of the 1955 Highway Act which set up the interstate system nationwide and provided 90 percent federal funds to be matched by 10 percent state funds. Public officials at the time made the decision to place emphasis on completing intercity links in Tennessee first. Loop routes in cities such as 1-240 in Memphis, 1-640 in Knoxville, and 1-440 in Nashville would be the last built, After passage the highway act the then Department of Highways did not have the manpower to handle location studies, cost analysis, and design preparations for all in-terstates. Many of these jobs, in order to speed up development time, were let by contract to private engineering consulting firms.

In 1955, the firm of Clarke and Rapuano had been hired by the city of Nashville to determine feasible locations for interstates within the city. Later in 1956 and '57 the firm was contracted by the state to furnish design plans for Davidson County along with the costs estimates. In these studies, an interstate south of the business district was shown and called the "outer loop." It was roughly in the location of the present "1-440 corridor along the Tennessee Central Railroad bed. The loop was renamed 1-440 in the Wilbur Smith arid Associates 1961 study on "Proposed Freeway and Major Street Plan." The study was part of a comprehensive trans-; portation study for Nashville and was later updated by the same firm in 1965; In this update, the eastern segment of IO between 1-24 and 1-65 was shifted southward from its original location at Franklin Road and Bransford. Active work on 1-440 really Vs i y3 4 IMUlllMI M.I I MM ll IT I lT I-1JIMMMI Willi llMI I i I 4 in i i .1 Five community workshops were held by the TDOT to find oat what the neighborhood concern were on 1-440 and what solutions might 1 be studied.

M-rv eiuujr area iur uuprovuig crossiown iransporuooD mciuaes most 01 ine southern oortion of Nashville..