An architect’s rendering of a multimodal transportation center one of the proposed sites downtown: Carter Distributing Co., a longtime beer wholesaler at 1305 Broad St.CARTA’s goals for a multimodal transportation center
› Increased ridership› Decreased congestion and vehicle miles traveled› Reduced emissions› Better connection to neighborhoods
This is an architect’s rendering of a multimodal transportation center on a study’s highest-rated proposed site, vacant land at 1300 Market St.If Chattanooga needs a place to plant the first spike for its proposed commuter train system, Mike Mallen says he’s got the perfect location: A gateway property on Chattanooga’s Southside that for decades was home to U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry.
“Some part of the city is going to have to be first,” said Mallen, one of the partners in Perimeter Properties, the lead developer of the 141-acre former industrial site at 2516 Chestnut St. “For many reasons, I think our site is the ideal place for the city to put a stake in the ground.”
The U.S. Pipe and Wheland Foundry property is one of three sites with rail access identified in a January report as the potential home for a new multimodal transportation center under study by the Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority (CARTA), which operates the city’s bus system.
CARTA hopes the transportation center would be a one-stop shop where passengers could do everything from catch a bus to rent a bicycle – or ride a commuter train that the city is investigating as a separate project. The plan calls for building a new transit center – either a brand-new building or, in the case of the U.S. Pipe site, the reuse of the vacant pipe-manufacturing building on Chestnut Street.