The Orange Route is Dead - now a numbers retrospective

After reading today how the proposed I-475 second Knoxville by-pass has been cancelled, one can't but help wonder about the economics or lack thereof involved. For those not familiar with the now cancelled project, back in the 1990s (talk about time passing quickly!) there were three proposals for a new interstate going from west Knox county past Oak Ridge to north Knox County. The idea was that the main interstate through town (I-40/I-75) was getting too crowded, and that through traffic should bypass Knoxville. One can read about the details at knoxnews.com. Anyway, the price tag for the project now runs around $1 Billion, money which we might not have. Part of the reason why the project was cancelled was that it was felt it wouldn't really relieve I-40/I-75 traffic based on new projections.

Doing some rough number crunching, I find it interesting how if hypothetically we spent $1 billion on sidewalks and bike lanes here in Knox County we would probably have a cycling and walking paradise. Here's the math - divide 1 billion into $500,000/mi for completed streets, and we'll have 2000 mi of completed streets. We might not have that many streets in the entire county. Now, imagine if Knoxville/Knox County were truly a cycling and walking paradise. Would we still have the congestion along I-40/I-75?