Audio clip
Steve Leach
Heavy rains are hindering work around Volkswagen's auto assembly plant, though there was no flooding at the factory site, officials said Monday.
Construction on a parkway designed to tie the plant to Interstate 75 has stopped until the ground dries out, said Steve Leach, the city's public works administrator.
"That project will have to wait until it's dry enough," he said about the 1.5-mile, $9.5 million project.
Concerning construction of the $1 billion factory, VW spokesman Guenther Scherelis there was no flooding or damage due to the deluges over the past several days.
"Flooding is no problem. This is thanks to the drainage system," he said, citing the extensive grading the city and Hamilton County undertook at the huge plant site.
Mr. Scherelis said he doesn't know of any change in the plant's timetable due to the amount of rain Hamilton County has received this month. The factory is slated to start production in early 2011.
Mr. Leach said that when it rains, workers building the plant still can work on the inside of some buildings that are further along in construction.
"In part, you can keep building. A lot of the fit-out can continue despite the weather," he said, citing the factory's paint shop as an example. "As long as there are safe working conditions, they'll continue."
Mr. Leach said city officials, too, are pleased with the drainage at the site.
"The roads are solid," he said. "It will have some wash, but by and large we're very pleased with the drainage."
Mr. Leach said he's glad September's rainy weather didn't happen last year when there was a lot of work going on to clear and level the property.
"Thank goodness this is not last year," he said.
According to officials, the parkway will run from the Enterprise South industrial park interchange to an intersection near the VW plant. There, a new boulevard will connect from the parkway to an existing road and cul de sac.
The parkway's first leg is expected to open in May 2010. Eventually, plans call for it to be extended to Highway 58.
Mike Pare, the deputy Business editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has worked at the paper for 27 years. In addition to editing, Mike also writes Business stories and covers Volkswagen, economic development and manufacturing in Chattanooga and the surrounding area. In the past he also has covered higher education. Mike, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., received a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida Atlantic University. he worked at the Rome News-Tribune before ...
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