Proposed retail and residential developments to be built near intersection of Ooltewah-Ringgold Road and East Brainerd Road.The question will be if Ooltewah-Ringgold Road and East Brainerd Road can handle the traffic introduced by new retail and residential developments potentially going up right off the intersection of the two East Brainerd thoroughfares.
“The corridor out East Brainerd Road has been a problem for several years,” said Hamilton County Commissioner Larry Henry, who represents the growing area targeted for a pair of new projects.
Henry said the addition of a proposed 125,000-square-foot commercial development across Ooltewah- Ringgold Road from the Bi-Lo shopping center will exacerbate the problem.
“I’m not real sure at this point that there’s a real need for a mixed-use development across the street,” he said. “I don’t think the road would accommodate it.”
The proposed development would sit on a 54-acre chunk of land to the southeast of the Ooltewah Ringgold Road and East Brainerd Road intersection.