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Sevier County Commission votes to ask governor and TDOT to expand Newport Highway to five lanes

Sevier County Commission · March 1, 2026

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Summary

Commissioners approved a motion to send a letter to Governor Bill Lee and TDOT Commissioner Butch Eley requesting plans for Highway 411/Newport Highway be changed from a stop-lighted turn lane to a five-lane expansion to the Sevierville city limits and asked for a sit-down meeting; motion passed by voice vote and by subsequent roll call.

The Sevier County Commission voted to ask the governor and the Tennessee Department of Transportation to change planned work on Highway 411/Newport Highway from a stop-lighted turn lane to a five-lane expansion to the Sevierville city limits and requested a sit-down meeting with TDOT leadership.

A motion by Fred Atchley, seconded by Mike Chambers, asked the commission chairman to suspend the rules in order to move a letter to Governor Bill Lee and TDOT Commissioner Butch Eley that requests changing current plans for a stop-lighted turn lane into an expansion project to make Newport Highway a five-lane road to the Sevierville city limits. The motion passed by voice vote 24 yes, 1 absent. The motion requested that copies of the letter also be sent to Senator Steve Southerland, Senator Frank Niceley, Representative Dale Carr and Representative Andrew Farmer and asked to be kept updated on the status of the project.

A related motion by Warren Hurst, seconded by Harold Pitner, to consider sending a letter to TDOT concerning Newport Highway expansion was recorded as passing by roll call vote 24 yes, 1 absent. The transcript does not include TDOT responses or any timeline for the requested meeting; no funding or engineering details were provided.

The motions direct county staff to prepare and transmit the requested letter and do not itself obligate county funds. The commission did not set a deadline for TDOT to respond in the meeting record. The item will proceed as an intergovernmental request rather than a binding change to TDOT plans until the state agency responds.