KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ― The Tennessee Valley Authority has identified a preferred route for a new transmission line to help meet growing power demand and increase power reliability in a fast-growing area in Knox and Loudon counties, Tennessee.

TVA plans to invest about $7.1 million to build 5.4 miles of 161-kilovolt transmission line to serve a new substation planned by Lenoir City Utilities Board. The new line would use primarily single, steel-pole structures centered on new 100-foot-wide right of way and begin at a point between TVA’s Watt Road-Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Fort Loudoun-Watt Road 161-kilovolt double-circuit transmission lines. The new line would extend northeast to the new Hardin Valley 161-kilovolt station on Marietta Church Road.

Hardin Valley is the fastest growing area in Knox County. These upgrades provide for Lenoir City Utilities Board to continue delivering reliable, quality power in both Knox and Loudon counties. A map of the project and additional information are available on the TVA website at www.tva.com/transmissionprojects.

The selected route is expected to have the least impact on the area, based on public input from the virtual open house and additional evaluation of other factors, including social, environmental and engineering impacts. A National Environmental Policy Act review is also pending.

The project will require new right of way. TVA will meet with property owners along the proposed right of way to obtain easements for construction, operation and maintenance of the line. Property owners would still own the property and be compensated for the easements at fair market value.

TVA is expected to begin surveys in winter 2021-2022 and start acquiring easements in summer 2022. Construction is scheduled to begin in winter 2022-2023 and be completed in summer 2023.

For more information about TVA and its 87-year mission of service to the Tennessee Valley, click here.