Chattanooga's roads stink, survey says

Jeff Moore, left, and Willy Moore, with Tennessee Department of Transportation, fill a pothole near the Rossville Avenue exits downtown along Highway 24 going eastbound.
Jeff Moore, left, and Willy Moore, with Tennessee Department of Transportation, fill a pothole near the Rossville Avenue exits downtown along Highway 24 going eastbound.
photo The outside, southbound lane of Highway 58 between Eller Road and Jersey Pike will be closed Monday-Friday next week to remove curb and guttering and install a drainage structure, the Chattanooga Transportation Department said.

Chattanooga has a lot of things going for it, but getting around town isn't one of them.

A new survey released Monday by Chattanooga's internal auditor shows that residents have a low opinion of the city's roads and transportation network. In fact, road ratings are one of the few aspects rated in a recent survey that went down in some cases instead of up.

The report, which polled about 2,000 residents, found that most have a negative opinion of the city's streets, with just 2 percent rating the smoothness of city streets as "very good."

"The condition of streets has been one of the most negatively rated areas since our survey was first conducted in 2012," the city's Office of Internal Audit wrote.

Sure, residents overall are more satisfied than ever with garbage pick-up, curbside recycling, water quality, public safety and general liveability. In fact, the city was recently voted as Outside Magazine's "Best Town Ever." Citywide, 89 percent of residents rate the city as a good or very good place to live, and 71 percent rate Chattanooga as a very good or good place to retire.

But when it comes to driving or biking around town, residents are far less positive. 16 percent rated the city's roads as "very bad," and another 35 percent rated them as just plain "bad," up from 33 percent in 2014, according to the report.

Smoothness is just one of the problem areas.

Speeding vehicles continue to be a problem as well. Forty-five percent of residents said the situation with speeding vehicles was "bad" or "very bad" - flat from 2014.

Bicycle safety also remained a concern, though slightly less so than in previous years, with 35 percent rating bicycle safety as bad or very bad, and 29 percent rating it as good or very good.

The perception of pedestrian safety improved slightly, though many still viewed it as a problem area. Just 5 percent of residents rated the safety of pedestrians as "very good," while 9 percent rated the safety of pedestrians as "very bad." Altogether, 28 percent of those surveyed said pedestrian safety was bad or very bad, while 39 percent said pedestrian safety was good or very good.

Residents may not like the city's road smoothness or safety, but at least the roads are clean, the survey shows.

Among those polled, 51 percent rated road cleanliness as good or very good, with just 21 percent rating them as bad or very bad.

The survey was released as Jim Tracy, Tennessee Senate transportation committee chairman, is preparing to meet with residents on Oct. 28 in the Hamilton County Commission room to discuss transportation needs at 2 p.m.

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