Ralph Comer

DUNLAP, Tenn. — A study of how to solve traffic congestion along Interstate 75 from the Georgia to Kentucky state lines will begin in August, state officials said Thursday.

Ralph Comer, assistant planning director for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, said Georgia and Kentucky already have agreed to widen their parts of the interstate to six lanes. Interstate 75 travels from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., to Hialeah, Fla., crossing six states.

“You sort of have a gun pointed at Tennessee,” Mr. Comer said.

Mr. Comer spoke to the technical committee of the Southeast Tennessee Rural Planning Organization on Thursday. The RPO consists of county and city mayors, highway superintendents and economic development officials. It covers Bledsoe, Bradley, Grundy, Marion, Meigs, McMinn, Rhea, Sequatchie and Polk counties.

Mr. Comer said the study will find if the interstate needs to be widened to six lanes or if other solutions, such as truck-only lanes and improving interchanges, could solve traffic woes.

Other solutions, such as updating rail lines and using more freight barges on the Tennessee River, will be included, he said.

McMinn County Road Supervisor Randall Moss said he thinks the highway needs to be widened between Hamilton and Knox counties.

“That traffic is awful, and a lot of the road is getting deteriorated,” he said. “It’s just one road patch after another.”

Rural planners also spoke briefly about improving state Route 30 from Dayton, Tenn., to the Tennessee River. A transportation planning report, the first step in preliminary engineering, came out in December that showed six possible options.

RPO coordinator Kim Harpe said financial strains may delay any further study. TDOT has lost more than $170 million of federal funds in the last two years, officials said.

“The financial outlook for new (project) starts is probably zero to none,” Ms. Harpe said.

BY THE NUMBERS

* $1.7 billion: Estimated cost of adding an extra travel lane each direction on Interstate 75 from Georgia to Kentucky

* 160: Number of miles the interstate runs through Tennessee

* 18: Months the study is expected to take

Source: Tennessee Department of Transportation