The Union County Legislative body meeting in regular session at Maynardville, Tennessee, on the 11th Day of June, 2018, adopted a resolution drafted and presented by 1st District Commissioner Stan Dail “Ensuring Public Safety and Paving the Way for Economic Development in Union County.”

The resolution asks the Governor and the Commissioners’ of Transportation and Economic and Community Development to reassess the project priority of the SR 33 and SR 61 improvements given the extreme fundamental need both for public safety and economic prosperity for citizens of Union County. The resolution also directs that a standard agenda item on the May and November Union County Commission Agenda include an update on the project status by the District 35 and District 36 Representatives.

Union County Commissioner Dail recognized that one of the single most important investments in Union County to bring jobs and prosperity to the county is an adequate transportation system as it directly correlates to economic viability and vitality and the improvement of the SR 33 and SR 61 corridor is fundamental to both our economic future and the safety of our county’s citizens. The region’s industries and commercial businesses require adequate transportation infrastructure to operate at their potential with SR 33 and SR 61 serving as major links to the economic hub of Knoxville and the converging interstate system in Knox County. SR 33 and SR 61 also provide the most direct links for Union and Claiborne County residents to travel to jobs in the Knoxville area. The 30th Annual Survey of Corporate Executives conducted in 2016 found highway accessibility ranked the number two site selection factor behind only the availability of skilled labor. An enhanced regional transportation system to attract new commercial and industrial employers would be expected to provide new jobs for Union County citizens.

Commissioner Dail, along with Commissioner and Mayoral Candidate Lynn Beeler, Candidates for Commissioner in the 6th District Martin Shafer and Debra Shell Keck and Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Skibinski recently attended the East Tennessee North Regional Transportation Plan Workshop and hand delivered the resolution “Ensuring Public Safety and Paving the Way for Economic Development in Union County” to TDOT. Union County had more representation at the Workshop than any other county. The coalition met with Representative Dennis Powers and voiced their concerns about the stalled SR 33 and SR 61 construction projects which are not currently included on TDOTs 3 year project list.

They stressed that the SR 33 and SR 61 construction projects are essential for Union County and that it is unacceptable that these projects are not part of TDOTs 3 year project list. They stressed the safety needs of the projects, informing TDOT that over 167 accidents had occurred on these sections of SR 33 and SR 61, 50 involving injury, from 10 October 2015 to present, and that three fatalities had occurred on this section of SR 33 in the last 18 months.

With an economy based largely on manufacturing, agriculture, natural resource extraction and tourism, the quality of Union County’s transportation system plays a vital role in the county and state’s economic growth and our citizen’s quality of life.