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March 12, 2007
The Benton MacKaye Trail and Corridor K:
What will the future bring?
Article from March 9, 2007 in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Click on the above image to download the complete article (688 KB)
in PDF format. The article was used with permission.
On Friday March 9, an article appeared in the Chattanooga Times Free Press about a proposed 4-lane highway commonly referred to as Corridor K. Corridor K is a proposed 4-lane road that will stretch from near Cleveland, TN to Asheville, North Carolina. In this article Polk County Attorney Denny Mobbs proposes that the highway should be routed through the Cherokee National Forest along a Forest Service road commonly referred to as Kimsey Highway. This route would bypass US 64 through the Ocoee Gorge.
On Saturday March 10, I crossed Kimsey Highway twice during a 17-mile hike of the Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) between US 64 at the Ocoee River and the trailhead at the Hiwassee River in Reliance, Tennessee. I took some video along Kimsey Highway for you to see where the Benton MacKaye Trail crosses the road.
This was not my first time in the area. Back on February 7, 2004 on a snowy day, I participated in a trail crew that constructed a part of the BMT just north of Kimsey Highway. Our leader that day was Benton MacKaye Trail Association volunteer extraordinaire Ken Jones! When you build a section of trail, it really allows you to feel a sense of ownership as a hiker. If you've never done it before, I highly recommend it!
Please take a look at the article above, and then view the video below so you can gain an understanding of some of the issues involved with this particular route selection for Corridor K. I apologize for the grainy quality of the video. It was shot at a lower resolution than I would prefer.
Conservation | By Jeffrey Hunter | 10:20 AM
