The Mountain Press
May 11, 2009

Traffic jam time means good news
By Jeff Ferrell

Suddenly we're all happy to see traffic jams again.

A year or two ago, when things were still going fairly well for the Sevier County economy — at least better than more recent times — the traffic jam was the bane of everyone's existence.

There might have been a few local officials and business owners who said, "it looks like money to me," but the rest of us weren't seeing the dollar signs. We just knew if we stayed on the main roads, we had to pack a lunch for a two-mile run to the grocery store.

But then the economy tanked. We might not have hit the point of having tumbleweeds drift down the Parkway, but we weren't bumper to bumper either.

And while we could zip right down to the store, many of us found we didn't quite have as much in our wallet as we did on those earlier trips.

I doubt there's a person in Sevier County who doesn't know somebody who's lost a job as a result of the cuts here and in other places.

Resorts are eliminating positions. Restaurants have let people go. Construction is down, and some projects, like Belle Island, have yet to make good on work that was already done.

Unemployment claims in Sevier County climbed to as high as 14.1 percent in February, before dropping to 13.4 percent in March. The unemployment figures for April won't be available until the end of this month.

There are bright spots: Sevierville reported its hotel/motel tax revenues are growing, indicating more people coming into the city than in past years. The city attributes that to the recent opening of new hotels and to people coming to the city's new Events Center.

For all the projects that have gone wrong or are on hold in Sevier County, there's still an awful lot that's gone right: Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies is the nation's most popular aquarium according to a Web site poll, Dollywood remains one of the strongest attractions in the state, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is still the most visited national park in the nation.

Before dismissing that, consider what's happened in Myrtle Beach, S.C. — a place with so many of the same or similar attractions, that people jokingly call it Sevier County on the Beach.

Investors poured $400 million last year into the Hard Rock Park, which replaced the Pavilion — and the park closed after those investors declared bankruptcy this year. Before making a comparison to Belle Island, consider that the Pavilion was centrally located and, outside of the beach itself, was probably the most recognizable landmark in the town.

Developers at Dumplin Creek and Bridgemont say retailers are putting their projects at the top of the construction list as soon as they start expanding again. With the traffic that passes through here, especially along the interstate, that's believable — although, like most people here, I'm waiting to see buildings go up before I start celebrating anything.

So, yes, things could be worse. But they could be a lot better. Getting a source of steady jobs that aren't dependent on tourists is always helpful, and that's why county commission couldn't let Lisega slip away to another state.

For the foreseeable future, though, just about all our jobs depend on visitors.

Restaurants, gas stations, hotels, theme parks — even if they aren't right on the Parkway, they depend on tourist dollars one way or another. And thanks to their paying our sales tax, the property tax rate here is still low.

So now it comes as no surprise to hear more and more people talking enthusiastically about seeing a lot of traffic this past weekend.

Because we've been reminded that being stuck in traffic with money in our pockets beats being stuck at home with an empty wallet.

— Jeff Farrell is a reporter for The Mountain Press. Call 428-0748, ext. 216, or e-mail to jfarrell@themountainpress.com.