Hardin Valley Road to be widened amid population, subdivision increase

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ( WATE ) — A part of Hardin Valley Road will be widened from three lanes to five lanes, the Knox County Engineering Public Works Department announced on Monday, as county commissioners affirm the community in West Knox County to be the fastest-growing area in the entire county.

A news release with insight from Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and a video describes the $2 million project as cost-effective and necessary for the traffic-congested roadway that links residents to the Pellissippi and the interstate.

Construction crews are putting together plans for the road widening project, which will be at one of the busiest intersections along Hardin Valley Road, near a slew of commercial businesses just west of the Pellissippi.

Work on the project is expected to start next summer, according to Jim Snowden, the engineering department’s senior director. Monday’s news release stated the project should take between one and two years to complete and “will cost considerably less than most comparable road projects that often take between five to 10 years to wrap up and cost upward of $20 million.”

“My team identified a project to take this three-lane section of road and convert it to five lanes,” Snowden added. “That way we can essentially double our capacity and still maintain our center turn lane for safety.”

This isn’t the first project to help ease traffic flow in the Hardin Valley area; a massive roundabout was opened in 2022 at Hardin Valley Road , Hickory Creek and East Gallaher Ferry Road, where a new subdivision had cropped up.

Farmland in Hardin Valley has been slowly chipped away over the last few decades as new businesses and residential subdivisions have been constructed. These developments and the people brought with them, have created traffic issues.

“We all know the Hardin Valley area faces some serious challenges when it comes to congestion,” Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said in Monday’s news release. “I’m really happy about this project because it’s a cost-effective way of greatly improving traffic flow in this area, which is good for the people of Hardin Valley and all of Knox County.”

County commissioners also offered their two cents on the latest Hardin Valley Road project.

“We’re going to continue to work hard to get that supportive infrastructure in the Harden Valley community and hopefully ease the pressure of that growth and development,” at-large Commissioner Kim Frazier said.

County Commission Chairwoman Terry Hill added: “We are working hard making sure that Hardin Valley becomes a more mobile and transportation-friendly community.”

County commissioners will view the project planning video shared by Knox County Engineering at their meeting Monday night.

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