Governor, TDOT talk Chattanooga road construction updates
Gov. Bill Lee with TDOT workers and local state representatives in front of the Apison Pike construction project.
COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. (WDEF)- Much of Chattanooga’s main roads continue to be a construction zone.
However, state officials are saying there is an end in sight for many of those projects.
Two years ago, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee passed the Transportation Modernization Act into law to tackle an increasing backlog of road construction.
In a visit Tuesday to Collegedale, he says that work is just getting started.
Gov. Lee said, “Those congestion projects are the most important, but they’re also by far the most expensive types of projects in transportation.”
In his visit to Collegedale, he stopped by the Apison Pike project.
That new bridge rerouting State Route 317 between Ooltewah-Ringgold Road and Southern Adventist University.
It is set to be done by the end of this summer.
The full structure has been completed as the final pieces of the bridges will have to be laid down before drivers can cross it.
We also asked about the other ongoing projects across Chattanooga, including the work surrounding the Interstate 24/75 split.
Gov. Lee said, “We know that we have a long way to go, but in a state that is fast growing, and that has a strong economy, we have to invest in infrastructure.”
There has been a slight delay in the work around the 24/75 split, but T-DOT says that work has an ending in sight.
TDOT’s regional director for our area, Danny Oliver, said, “We’ve been doing some weekend repairs of the concrete slabs on the outside, so our goal is to push traffic to the outside and then work on repairing those concrete slabs on the outside. It will be after that Summer 2025 date on that piece of it, but you will see sometime around Labor Day, on 24, traffic is going to be in the right place and for all intents and purposes open.”
He also commented on the work being done at the new interchange being constructed at I-75 and Hamilton Place, set to be completed in 2027.
Oliver said, “It’s on track, and we’re making a lot of progress, but you’re getting to see the stages of it because a lot of it is on the side roads and the ramps and auxiliary between the two interchanges where everything is tying in between Shallowford and Hamilton Place, you’re seeing all of that taking place because everything is vertical.”
The 2023 Transportation Modernization Act allocated $3 billion dollars to road construction, and the General Assembly approved an additional billion dollars being given to these as well.
The Governor says he does not intend to start using bonds to pay for road construction, but eventual choice lanes in metro areas.
