Knox County (including Knoxville, Farragut, the County, schools, and utilities) needs $4,180 per capita (person) to meet its reported transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure needs according to the update TACIR 2020-2025 Infrastructure Needs Report. In a news release, TACIR provided the following stats for Knox County related to our top three areas of need (also in the Knox County one-pager):
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Post-secondary education: $2.2 billion
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Transportation: $1.6 billion
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Water and wastewater: $440.2 million
The Transportation needs are split into:
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Regional – $1.3 billion, which includes projects that serve users from more than one county
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Local – $267 million
For the Feb 2022 update, Knox County reports $443.5 million of transportation projects in the conceptual state, and $1.8 billion in planning, design and construction. The per-capita figures above include projects where funding has been identified and projects where funding is still needed.
The public infrastructure needs needs are self-reported by local officials (page 3) to TACIR and it is unclear what specific projects are and are not self-reported. The report analyzes needed infrastructure for a five-year period (July 2020 through June 2025).
KCPA speculates that the Local number is under-reported. Regarding transportation, the Hardin Valley Mobility Study alone identified at least $140 million of transportation projects needed from 2019-2029. Only a small amount (less than $1 million) has been initiated. There should be about $140 million of local projects in the conceptual stage for just that one area of Hardin Valley, and when the entire county is considered, there are likely $100’s of more million of transportation needs really required. Yet the local share of projects is only $267 million. Also, no figures are reported in the “Broadband” category of infrastructure, but KUB has just embarked on a fiber internet initiative. There are certainly known infrastructure needs that have not been reported.
The takeaway? There are significant infrastructure needs in Knox County across all categories – education, transportation, law enforcement, housing, libraries, broadband, etc. $3.2 billion of projects are reportedly in the planning, design and construction phase and another $1.4 billion are in the conceptual stage. But that’s just what is self-reported; the needs are far greater.