Ladair Tinker, second from right, gets ready to lead a group of students on a tour of the Gestamp plant last week.
A robot on the BMW line is among many robots at the Gestamp plant.Though it was completed in September 2014, a key section of Chattanooga’s version of the Yellow Brick Road never opened because it didn’t connect with anything near the VW plant, officials said.
That changed last week, when a 1.4-mile segment of road from Highway 58 to a new factory built by Volkswagen supplier Gestamp opened in Enterprise South industrial park. The opening of the new plant meant the time was right to also open the $5.4 million stretch of road, which begins at Highway 58 and Clark Road, officials said.
“We want to see it get used,” said City Engineer Bill Payne.
But, he said, there are signs telling motorists that it’s serving the Gestamp plant and closed to through-traffic to the VW factory.
The new road eventually will connect with a private road that services VW and its supplier park, called Ferdinand Piech Way. Work on improving that private road into a public, four-lane artery is to begin next year.
On completion in 2019, the entire $12 million road will be a nonstop, direct link between Highway 58 and Interstate 75 for motorists, truckers and businesses. It’s also seen as an option for people living in the fast-growing Collegedale/Apison area.
Payne said the new section of road also is called Ferdinand Piech Way, named after the former VW Group chairman who ran the company for many years before resigning in early 2015 after a power struggle inside the German automaker. Piech is the 79-year-old grandson of the inventor of the Volkswagen Beetle, Ferdinand Porsche.
The “Yellow Brick Road” nickname came into use early in the development of Enterprise South. It refers to the path in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” and officials here said the roadway would help unlock the economic promise of the industrial park.
VW spokesman Scott Wilson said Exit 9 off 1-75 is the primary artery for deliveries to the plant. He said the portion of Ferdinand Piech Way that’s still a private road will not be open to through-traffic until the state completes the entire connector road.
Jennifer Flynn, a Tennessee Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said the agency is awaiting a geological report related to the next phase of work.
“We hope to have final right-of-way plans by the end of 2016,” she said. “We are hopeful for a summer or fall 2017 construction letting.”
Flynn put the estimated cost of that 1.3-mile leg at $6.5 million, and she said the federal money already has been earmarked.
“Some retaining walls will be needed along the project, which is the reason for the cost,” she explained.
Chattanooga’s Yellow Brick Road, however, almost got detoured. After the first leg was opened from Bonny Oaks Drive to I-75, there was some sentiment for improving Hickory Valley Road through Enterprise South. That road runs from Highway 58 to Bonny Oaks Drive and is an existing connector to I-75.
But the new road, when finished, is seen as a quicker way to move traffic through Enterprise South, which soon will handle well more than 6,000 workers daily when VW hires another 1,100 employees to produce a new sport utility vehicle.
Gestamp, a supplier of chassis and stamped parts, is investing $180 million more and hiring 510 additional employees in Chattanooga for the SUV and to service other automakers. It’s the biggest single investment ever by a VW supplier in Hamilton County.
VW is slated to start SUV production late this year, with the seven-seater to hit dealerships next spring.