Yellow paint marks a path for bus riders to walk from CARTA's bus shelter on Eastgate Loop Road to the entrance of Eastgate Town Center. The bus stop will move even farther away from the mall, to Uptain Road.You've got to hoof it to get into Eastgate Town Center from the CARTA bus stop there, since the Brainerd-area shopping and office center - which is in a dispute with the city over road maintenance - keeps asking CARTA to move its bus stops farther away.
The current bus stop is at least a football field's length from the nearest mall entrance.
And the walk from the bus stop to the mall is about to get longer - and be cemented in place.
Mall management says CARTA's buses damage Eastgate Loop Road, the privately owned road that encircles the mall, and Eastgate wants the buses to stay off, said Lisa Maragnano, executive director of the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority.
So CARTA will spend about $10,000 to pour a concrete pad on Uptain Road near the mall and put its permanent bus stop there, she said.
"This will be our fourth move," Maragnano said, explaining that CARTA has moved its bus stop three times at the mall's request, including to the current bus shelter location on Eastgate Loop and Uptain roads near the new Family Justice Center.
"The old stop was right at [Eastgate's] front door," she said.
Eastgate's operations manager, Debra Shaffer, said Eastgate has spent $45,000 so far fixing some of the damage caused by CARTA buses.
"Eastgate has patiently attempted to work with CARTA to help it maintain its busiest and most profitable route," Shaffer said Wednesday via email. "However, CARTA refuses to be responsible for the damage caused by its profitable operations. So, as much as Eastgate appreciates the valuable service provided by CARTA, it is not in a position to subsidize CARTA's profitable operations."
CARTA's Route 4, which serves Eastgate, is the bus service's busiest route, Maragnano said. Route 4 also goes downtown, to Hamilton Place mall, and its buses come every 15 minutes on weekday afternoons, which is CARTA's most-frequent schedule.
But ridership on Route 4 is falling, she said, partly because of the walk that bus riders have to make to get into Eastgate.
"People don't like to walk that far," Maragnano said.
CARTA buses do put wear and tear on the road, Maragnano said. And the Eastgate Loop Road is a point of contention between the city and the mall's owners.
"[Eastgate wants] the city to take over the road, but the city won't take over the road until it's brought up to code," Maragnano said.
City spokeswoman Marissa Bell confirmed that the Chattanooga Department of Transportation wouldn't take over the loop road unless it's upgraded.
It would take further investigation, such as borings into the roadway, to figure out how much work Eastgate Loop Road needs, city transportation engineer Bert Kuyrkendall said.
The road might just need its asphalt milled down and repaved, he said.
"On the heavier side, it could be more of a road-rebuilding project," Kuyrkendall said. "It really depends."
Eastgate was Chattanooga's premier shopping mall when it opened in 1962, but the 827,000-square-foot facility has largely repurposed itself as a business center. Eastgate's tenants include state agencies, such as a Tennessee Department of Human Services office and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Career Center, as well as a number of businesses and the city's Eastgate Senior Center.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or on Twitter @meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.