City of Chattanooga traffic engineer John Van Winkle says he expects only “minimal” disruption when construction for a new red light on Jenkins Road at the entrance to U.S. Xpress starts by the end of the month.
The light will be installed sometime in November, once all the components are delivered, and should be functioning by the end of the year.
“They [U.S. Xpress] were willing to wait until we got it scheduled,” Van Winkle said, adding that, should any company want a light which is determined to be warranted installed on a particular timeline, it is up to that company to fund the entire project.
In this case, the city will cover the costs of a basic light and U.S. Xpress will pay for additional expenses due to its request that the light be upgraded to a more attractive design.
“We had agreed that we would put in a basic service; they wanted more than a wood pole-type installation,” Van Winkle said. “They wanted a steel pole with arms that hang out over the street, so there’s more cost involved with that, and to interconnect the signal with the signal on the Jenkins interchange. U.S. Xpress is covering those costs.”
The interconnected signals will mean less disruption in the flow of traffic, according to Van Winkle. He added that the light will only force traffic on the main road to stop when there are cars waiting to exit the company facility.
“It will stay green for most of the day because there will be little traffic coming out of U.S. Xpress. It’s really to accommodate the morning and afternoon peak hours where workers are beginning or ending work,” he said.
Those volumes of traffic were enough to warrant the signal, he said.
“U.S. Xpress requested the city to install this. A study was done that it did warrant a signal. There is enough traffic coming out of that side street to justify a signal,” Van Winkle reported.