History of the Knob Creek Road project

Have you ever wondered about the history of the Knob Creek Road project? The one-lane tunnel located at the intersection of Knob Creek Road, West Mountainview Road, and Claude Simmons Road in Johnson City first opened in 1907 when the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad (CC&O or currently CSX) line was completed.  This one-lane tunnel served the then-rural area for almost 90 years until 1997, when traffic in the area increased to the point where county officials decided to ask the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) for a study to develop a project scope and probable cost; however, the request was ultimately withdrawn due to concerns from both Johnson City and Washington County officials about the high cost of the project.

The project was resurrected in 2003 when U.S. Congressman Bill Jenkins secured an earmark of $1,270,000 to jump start the design and right-of-way phases. TDOT conducted an Advance Planning Report that proposed four alternatives to improving Knob Creek Road. The alternative that proposed an overpass bridge over CSX Railroad was chosen, with a cost estimate of $9 million. In 2005, Congressman Jenkins secured two more earmarks for a total of $2,900,000 for the right-of-way phase.  The original project was to improve Knob Creek Road from Marketplace Boulevard to go across CSX Railroad and end near Mizpah Hills Drive.

In 2012, a new administration at TDOT took over and reviewed all major projects in Tennessee.  They issued a letter requiring Johnson City staff take over management of the project, due to the heavy workload on TDOT staff to manage non-state route projects.  In 2014, Johnson City began acquiring the necessary properties to start the right-of-way phase, with a budget of $5,988,456, of which $2,726,317 is Federal Highway Administration’s Surface Transportation Program funds that were added to the project by the Johnson City MTPO’s Executive Board. 

Finding enough funds for the construction phase of the Knob Creek Road project proved difficult.  Costs ballooned from the original $9 million estimate to $30.5 million in 2019.  Then the pandemic happened. Cost of materials and labor skyrocketed, along with everything else in America, and in mid-2023, a new estimate for the project totaled over $50 million.  The Johnson City MTPO staff knew they needed to seek out additional funding to make the project happen. In August 2023, the Johnson City MTPO submitted an application to TDOT for the Statewide Partnership Program, a category of funding in the newly enacted Transportation Modernization Act.  Of 106 applications submitted statewide, the Knob Creek Road Project was one of six grants awarded. TDOT will receive $58 million to fund construction of this project and also partner with Johnson City to manage it.  It is now scheduled for construction in 2027.

Another section of improvements for Knob Creek Road that starts where this project ends at Mizpah Hills Drive and connects to Boones Creek Road is in the early planning stages at TDOT, but that is another story.