State transportation officials say they will try a few tweaks to relieve traffic at U.S. Highway 27 and Signal Mountain Road, but residents still will have to deal with delays until the ramp is complete at the end of March.
Backed-up traffic at the Signal Mountain Road exit has snarled the daily northbound rush hour for thousands of motorists on U.S. 27 since a new permanent exit ramp opened Jan. 26.
After complaints from local officials and residents, Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer said last week that the state is working with Chattanooga officials to adjust traffic signal timing at the bottom of the new ramp. Police will direct traffic at peak hours. And TDOT will move a retaining wall and adjust the top of the exit ramp from U.S. 27 to add a de-acceleration lane, making leaving the highway “less abrupt,” he said.
He hopes that will get Signal Mountain-bound drivers off the highway more smoothly, which will allow other traffic to keep moving.
Officials expect the traffic woes to be gone once the ramp is complete, because there will be two lanes leading to Signal Mountain Road and a longer exit lane, Schroer said.