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Jennifer Flynn
A major new connector -- which officials believe holds so much promise they nicknamed it the Yellow Brick Road -- soon will open to tie the Volkswagen plant to Interstate 75.
The $8.77 million parkway, officially called Volkswagen Drive, will provide an improved link between the automaker's $1 billion assembly plant and the area around it, City Engineer Bill Payne said.
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Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press Volkswagen Drive is will open soon. Work continues on the sides of the road.
"It should make traffic quite a bit better," he said.
The part of the four-lane road nearest the automaker's plant is scheduled to open by the first of July. That will allow VW's growing work force to access buildings on the site from Bonny Oaks Drive without having to snake through the factory's parking lot.
A couple of weeks later, the full 1-mile connector from the plant to I-75 could start handling traffic, officials said.
"It will lessen delays on Bonny Oaks Drive," Mr. Payne said.
At the I-75 interchange, a "green" multimillion-dollar VW welcome center is planned as a lure for motorists traveling between Michigan and Florida.
Jennifer Flynn with the Tennessee Department of Transportation said signs are to go up at the I-75 interchange, which was built several years ago but has never been open to traffic.
"Everything should be ready," Ms. Flynn said.
The parkway will have two roundabouts, one near the plant and the other close to the entrance to the massive nature park serving as a buffer between I-75 and the factory.
Eventually, the parkway is to continue from the VW plant through the rest of Enterprise South to state Highway 58. The road project's entire price tag is about $22.5 million.
The artery was dubbed the Yellow Brick Road by officials because it would open up the 6,000-acre Enterprise South site for economic development.
Since World War II, the tract held a U.S. Army ammunition manufacturing and storage facility. Part of the property was redesignated for civilian use last decade, and economic developers marketed it to big manufacturers, landing VW about two years ago.
The automaker plans to start assembling cars at its plant early next year and employ more than 2,000 workers.
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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 ...
This really is too funny. Someone needs to explain the ending of "The Wizard of Oz" to our German friends, and to define for them the word charlatan as it applies to the wizard.
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