Several restaurants and a couple hundred thousand square feet of additional retail are eyed for the area around Bass Pro Shops, and the city of East Ridge is preparing by realigning Camp Jordan Parkway.
Work is expected to begin in April to untangle the entry/exit ramps on the east side of Exit 1 and build a direct connection to Camp Jordan.
"It's going to mean increased tourism because of access to the park, [enhancing] our ability to be a more attractive venue for tournaments," Mayor Brent Lambert said. "It also means higher sales tax revenue based on all the development, as well as higher hotel-motel revenue."
Bass Pro Shops opened in July, and the city's sales tax revenue in the next five months was up 19 percent from the prior year, he said.
The budget for the project is $2 million, but City Manager Scott Miller isn't sure that's going to be enough. East Ridge and Hamilton County each put up $500,000, and the state Department of Transportation kicked in $1 million, he said.
"Anything over that will be our responsibility, and I'm sure it will be over that," he said. But he and Lambert both say the investment will pay off big-time. This project is part of $11 million the city has put into the development so far.
"It has to be done, and I will find the dollars," said Miller.
The project consists of tearing out the loop-type entry and exit ramps at I-75 and replacing them with straight ramps. Just across Ringgold Road from the northbound ramp, the city will build a new mouth for Camp Jordan Parkway that will eliminate the existing dogleg turn off Ringgold Road.
Besides easing access to the new retail center and Camp Jordan, the project will improve safety.
Now, people trying to get to Camp Jordan from northbound I-75 have to cross two lanes of traffic, get into a turn lane and make a left turn across traffic and another sharp left to actually get on the parkway.
Miller said he used to travel through the intersection regularly.
"I can't tell you how many times I've come over there heading east and you'd see some car ignore the yield sign [at the top of the exit ramp] and scoot across two lanes of traffic," he said, adding he's probably seen "five or six" accidents there in the last few months.
And trying to manage traffic in and out of Camp Jordan during events is a nightmare, he said.
"If we have a major event at Camp Jordan, we could pull up 8,000 cars easily. The whole area really gets bogged down and slows down."
Lambert said TDOT's share also is aimed at greater safety. Drivers won't have to negotiate the looping ramps, and those entering I-75 northbound will have a longer merge lane.
Jennifer Flynn, spokeswoman for TDOT's Chattanooga office, said the agency worked with East Ridge to make sure the project will mesh smoothly with the eventual $65 million rebuild of the I-75/I-24 junction just up the road.
"The project to modify the on and off ramps of I-75 North at Exit 1 and make improvements to Ringgold Road will facilitate traffic movement by improving traffic flow at this very busy area," Flynn said.