From July 8 to Aug. 9, 48 crashes were reported along the downtown stretch of Highway 27 – a number nearly three times higher than during the same time frame the year prior.
According to the Chattanooga Police Department Crime Analysis Unit, the CPD responded to 18 highway crashes in the area between the Fourth Street and M.L. King Boulevard exits in 2016.
As the Tennessee Department of Transportation works to widen the highway, lane changes and new signage have been fraught with difficulties and frustrations. Now, with new signage requiring stops instead of yields in order to merge onto the highway from downtown, both CPD and TDOT hope to see the number of crashes decrease.
The new signs, installed last week, are meant to curb what has become a growing issue since the retooling of on-ramps from downtown removed what little bit of a merge lane previously existed.
“Whenever we do a big traffic shift, it takes time for people to get used to. But in this case, they just aren’t getting it,” said TDOT Community Relations Officer Jennifer Flynn. “People are expecting to merge like they used to.”