Public Infrastructure

 

Infrastructure
ETDD contracts with the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) to collect public infrastructure needs on an annual basis from mayors, county executives, school superintendents, road superintendents, utility managers and various other local contacts in the ETDD region. This information is submitted to TACIR and compiled with infrastructure needs from other regions throughout the state for the development of a report on statewide infrastructure needs.

Full participation and cooperation by local government officials contribute to the success of the survey. The data collected for the survey is incorporated into a report compiled by TACIR and is made available to the governor and members of the general assembly for use as a planning tool in making funding decisions.

The most current report is entitled "Building Tennessee's Tomorrow - Anticipating the State's Infrastructure Needs - October 2005". In addition to local infrastructure needs, it includes project needs from various state agencies. These projects include major improvements to the National Guard armories, state prisons, state parks, and renovations to the campuses of state public higher education institutions. You can view a copy of the report at http://www.state.tn.us/tacir/publications.htm

Transportation
ETDD participates in the Knoxville Area Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) through staff participation on the TPO technical committee and the appointment of an ETDD elected official to the TPO Board. The Development District staff also participates with the Lakeway Area Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (LAMTPO). LAMTPO serves the Morristown metropolitan area and portions of Hamblen, Jefferson and Cocke counties. The Executive Director serves on the Technical Committee of LAMTPO.

A major new initiative that was undertaken by ETDD during 2005 was the formation of two new Rural Planning Organizations (RPO) that will serve all rural areas not currently contained within the boundaries of an existing Metropolitan Planning Organization. Within the ETDD region there are two new RPOs, one that serves eight counties in the southern portion of ETDD and one that serves seven counties in the northern portion of ETDD. In general, the purpose of the RPOs will be to “involve local rural officials in multi-modal transportation planning through a structured process”. The overall goal is to ensure quality, competence and fairness in the transportation planning process. ETDD will manage the two new RPOs under a management contract that has been executed between ETDD and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Utilities
ETDD staff collects information on utilities to aid in regional utility planning activities. The Drinking Water Survey is collected on a bi-annual basis from water service providers in the ETDD region. The survey includes water system treatment and collection data such as the type of treatment, supply, production capacity, distribution, storage, customer base, and needs assessment. The report on Public Wastewater Systems is also developed bi-annually and includes wastewater treatment and collection data from area wastewater systems such as type of treatment, collection, capacity, customer base and needs assessment.