It was thought to be an old topic, a done deal. Three years ago, local residents and city officials rallied to kill the James White Parkway extension—a leg of freeway that would slice through the Urban Wilderness and some South Knox neighborhoods—and succeeded in having removed from the list of regional transportation projects, effectively taking it off the drawing board. A victory, many said at the time, over a road project that would divide neighbors and hurt the city’s cred as a burgeoning outdoor destination.

But this week TDOT head John Schroer ignited an old flame. During a luncheon in Knoxville on Wednesday, he told the crowd he still wanted to see the JWP extension built as a means to alleviate traffic congestion along Chapman Highway, a real issue. He says planned fixes for Chapman, which city officials have said they favor over building out the JWP, won’t be enough to make it a safe, commuter-friendly artery to downtown.

“It is unfortunate that we are having to deal with this issue again,” City Councilman Nick Pavlis wrote in a letter to South Knoxville residents on Friday. “We made it very clear that the vast majority of people in Knoxville did not support the extension of JWP. The extension would devastate the hard work that so many people have invested to make the Urban Wilderness the thriving, wilderness epi-center [sic] that has put South Knoxville on the national radar.”

Pavlis is encouraging people to email Schroer and voice their opposition. The TDOT commissioner can be reached at john.schroer@tn.gov.

Mayor Madeline Rogero didn’t attend the luncheon where Schroer started kicking up old asphalt, but in an email to the News Sentinel she said she thought it best that TDOT focus on the massive backlog of projects already on its to-do list and not worry so much about the unpopular, presumed deceased JWP extension. TDOT’s backlog of roadway projects currently totals about $6.1 billion and includes more than 250 projects across the state, according to a recent report.

But issues of traffic and crashes along Chapman Highway are still pressing. They claim lives, and along Chapman Highway automobile accidents happen far more frequently than on some of South Knoxville’s other major roadways. As the Mercury reported back in December, Chapman saw nearly three times as many traffic accidents as nearby Alcoa Highway from 2012 through 2014. Yet TDOT has prioritized roadwork on Alcoa first, moving ahead with a $233 million project—to be taken in sections—to revamp Alcoa from just south of downtown to the county line.

Currently planned upgrades to some sections of Chapman Highway are estimated to cost about $8.7 million, but Schroer says those won’t be enough to improve safety outcomes and meet future demand. He says the road is badly designed and is dangerous, and he sees the JWP extension as the best fix. The extension was projected to cost up to $140 million back in 2013, before plans were tabled.

PHOTO: A driver waits for a break in the flow of cars to make a turn on Chapman Highway. This section of Chapman near Green Drive is one of the most accident prone, according to THP crash data. Clay Duda/Mercury File

Clay Duda

Former Mercury staff reporter Clay Duda has covered gangs in New York, housing busts in Atlanta, and wildfires in Northern California. And lots of stuff about Knoxville.