Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 1/13/16. Construction continues on the Wilcox Tunnel on January 13, 2016. Learn more
City officials will host two meetings on Feb. 1 to update residents about progress on the Wilcox Tunnel. The first meeting is at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at Eastdale Youth and Family Development Center. The next is at 6 p.m. Feb. 1 at Avondale Center.
Contractors may not finish the Wilcox Tunnel in Chattanooga by the end of February as initially expected.
The moment of truth comes in three weeks after contractors finish sandblasting, when they will know how bad the damage is underneath. The structure could be what city officials initially expected, but it could be worse, Mayor Andy Berke said.
"Nobody wants that tunnel closed for one extra day, I promise you that," he said. "Any time we close streets, any time we have things that are going on and we restrict access to places, we know it affects people and it doesn't give any of us happiness."
Berke spoke to more than two dozen business owners and residents who met at City Hall for a tunnel work update.
The city closed the 83-year-old tunnel in August 2015 for $2 million in renovations expected to result in safety improvements, better lighting and a recoated tunnel interior to stop water seepage.
Nearly 15,500 people a day drove through the tunnel in 2014, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The tunnel connects two communities - East Chattanooga on one side and Eastdale on the other. It also is a thoroughfare for North Brainerd residents.
Business owners and residents monitoring the tunnel's progress and attending the meeting this month said they're happy work is being done, but they are frustrated so many days passed with the tunnel closed with hardly any work being done on it.
After several business owners told the mayor how the closed tunnel has caused a decrease in their store sales, the mayor informed the group the tunnel may not be complete in February.
"They're going to sandblast the whole thing and then we're going to reassess, because we'll know when we sandblast it exactly how bad the damage is underneath," Berke said.
Chattanooga Department of Transportation Administrator Blythe Bailey expects the sandblasting will be complete Jan. 25.
The city will host two meetings, one on each side of the tunnel on Feb. 1, to inform residents and merchants of any damages in the tunnel and if the city is still on schedule to finish the work at the end of February. One meeting will be at the Eastdale Youth & Family Development Center at 4:30 p.m., and the other will be at Avondale Center at 6 p.m.
In response to questions about delays on work in the tunnel, Berke said that the electrical contractors started the work and they may not have been there every day. He said there are some jobs involved with the tunnel repair that can't be done with multiple people working inside the tunnel. For example, because of the way contractors spray the liner, no one else can be in the tunnel when that's happening because it's hazardous, he said.
Berke said he wants to be transparent about the progress of the tunnel renovation, and he's asked contractors to give weekly reports to let him know if they find anything unexpected. Since the contractors have started sandblasting, contractors have said they plan to work in the tunnel 10 hours a day, six days a week.
John Taylor Sr., president of Taylor Funeral Home located near the tunnel, asked Berke to give monthly updates to residents about the tunnel's progress. Berke agreed.
"My major frustration is it took five months just to hang the lights and it looked as if we probably should have done the blasting first and then come with the lights," Taylor said. "It looks like it was kind of done backwards, but that was five months, now we only have two left."
Business owners and residents said they were concerned about the effect the closed tunnel is having on their sales.
Berke thanked those attending for starting businesses in the area and told them it is in the city's interest for them to succeed.
"We want this to be a great project," he said. "We've got more than $2 million of city money invested in this. We want it to be great, and we want people to feel that it's a better tunnel."
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.