Town details traffic measures during BOMA workshop
“I know, with some of you being new to the Board, we want to give you an overview of just some of the things we have been working on as a town over the last couple years and the different projects we’ve been having, especially on the Kingston Pike corridor and Campbell Station Road — it’s a very heavily congested area — and some of the technology enhancements that we’ve added recently, and then want to continue adding,” Town administrator David Smoak said.
With that, deputy Town engineer Eric Schindler presented current and future options “to enhance the system even further,” Smoak added.
Using before-and-after photos, Schindler showed how the Town Center district has changed since 2003, when South Campbell Station Road “was non-existent,” he said.
“Later on, you’ll see the construction of Brooklawn Street, tying in of Anchor Green and the Biddle Farms Boulevard,” he said.
“Traffic flow can be improved by increasing intersection efficiency or increasing capacity, which is the number of vehicles that can get through an intersection in a given period of time,” Schindler said. “A combination of physical capacity improvements and efficiency improvements have been completed since the early 2000s.”
Among those efforts was a Tennessee Department of Transportation project that extended South Campbell Station Road. Additional access points — Brooklawn Street, Anchor Green and Biddle Farm Boulevard — also were added to improve traffic flow.
Another improvement was the Advanced Traffic Management System, a traffic signal upgrade project completed in 2025.
“The ATMS project connected all of our traffic [light] signals within the town via fiber to a central software and provides remote access to the intersections,” Schindler said. “This connectivity also results in a network of intersections that stay consistently in sync with what their internal time clock says it is, which is crucial for effective coordination of signals.”
Schindler said the improvements significantly reduced travel times along Kingston Pike, measured from Concord Road to Virtue Road, and Campbell Station Road, measured from Concord Road to Snyder Road.
He reported an approximately 140-second reduction in travel time along the Kingston Pike corridor during the midday peak and an approximately 260-second reduction along Campbell Station Road during the evening peak.
As part of a pilot project that began in January 2026, the town is adding adaptive signalization to the ATMS along portions of the Kingston Pike corridor, including intersections at Campbell Station and Concord roads.
“The goal is to determine how well adaptive signalization can respond to changing traffic conditions,” Schindler said. “This adaptive system uses traffic detection to make adjustments in real time. It can increase or decrease time for individual approaches and adjust the overall intersection cycle lengths based on traffic demand.”
He estimated the pilot project would be completed in March 2027.
“If the Town wishes to move forward with implementing an adaptive signal setup long-term, licenses for the adaptive software will need to be purchased,” Schindler said. “The estimated price per license, which is one [license] per intersection, is approximately $5,200; so to outfit the study corridor, which is those four intersections, with adaptive licenses, would cost approximately $20,800.”
Schindler said the pilot project has shown significant improvements in peak travel times during the morning and midday periods.
Other current projects include a Kingston Pike pedestrian underpass, improvements at Campbell Station Road and Jamestown Boulevard, improvements at Campbell Station Road and Eddie Courtney Road, a potential HAWK (High-Intensity Activated crossWalK) pedestrian crossing signal and a Municipal Center Drive extension.
“Design and right-of-way are part of the [Capital Investment Projects] right now for the fiscal year ’30 through ’32 for the Municipal Center Drive extension project,” Schindler said. “If moving forward with that, we would likely have construction as part of the fiscal year ’33.”
The engineering department also is considering lane reassignments at the Kingston Pike and Campbell Station Road intersection, with an estimated cost of $850,000.
“It would give more than one way to move around the Town Center rather than concentrating so much traffic at the Campbell Station/Kingston Pike intersection,” Schindler said.
“With that said, we don’t want to assume what kind of impact that would have on the Town Center area and Town as a whole until we have the data. That’s why we are working on a majority grant-funded feasibility study with Knoxville, Knox County Planning.”
In response to a question, Schindler said the feasibility study is expected to be completed by Aug. 31, 2027.
He said the extension project is not included in the current budget and that the town would need to contact property owners who could be affected by the project.
