Next spring, home and business owners along Apison Pike are going to begin getting visits from state officials buying property for the long-awaited widening of Apison Pike from Old Lee Highway to Ooltewah-Ringgold Road.
Two years after that, crews will start turning a narrow, twisty blacktop into a four-lane parkway with a median, bike lanes and sidewalks. A “ballpark” estimate for the cost is $16 million, Tennessee Department of Transportation Chief Engineer Paul Degges said last week in Chattanooga.
It’s the second of three phases in a project to open up the southeast corner of Hamilton County and improve transportation access for Collegedale’s largest employer, McKee Foods.
“It’s going to make a big difference out there,” said 9th District County Commissioner Chester Bankston, who represents part of the area.
Phase I, a $7.2 million road from Interstate 75 to Apison Pike, is supposed to wind up in December, TDOT officials said.