Outlook 2018
The new year begins with the strongest economy in Chattanooga in more than a decade. A year-end survey found small businesses owners across America to be as optimistic in their business outlook as any time since the 1980s. Last year, the Chattanooga area added jobs at three times the pace of the country as a whole and the local economy is poised for another year of expansion. As the economic recovery enters its eighth year, sustaining the the same pace of economic growth and momentum is getting tougher, especially in a tight labor market with interest rates expected to edge higher through 2018. Nonetheless, the Chattanooga region is poised for growth this year from more road building, new battery-powered vehicles, additional apartment and subdivision development and continued growth in the region’s changing entertainment and dining landscape.
Gary Farlow says that companies in the Cleveland, Tennessee, area depend on their products reaching the marketplace, and reducing bottlenecks on the region’s roads is key.
“If we’re trying to market our community to, for example, a new industrial supplier to Volkswagen, we want to make sure they can get their stuff there efficiently. That’s money,” says the head of the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce.
Farlow says he supported the IMPROVE Act, the state legislation passed in 2017 that is projected to help tackle an estimated $10.5 billion backlog of 962 projects across Tennessee. IMPROVE stands for “Improving Manufacturing, Public Roads and Opportunities for a Vibrant Economy.”
In Bradley County, projects aided by the IMPROVE Act include widening North Lee Highway from near Anatole Lane to State Road 308 in Charleston at a cost of $36.8 million.