Just when we thought orange barrels were the official Chattanooga flower, there is wonderful, miraculous, mind-soothing news: Those orange barrels will sprout a real garden along a major gateway to our city.
We’re talking acres and acres of trees, irises, day lilies – more than 4 acres of wildflowers alone. Think of it as Interstate 124 gone botanical.
“Imagine taking a downtown off-ramp out of hectic U.S. Highway 27 traffic and gliding through a peaceful garden of blooming ornamental and native plants and trees. You might even feel your blood pressure ease.”
That sentence was the first line of a story by Times Free Press reporter Ben Benton on Sunday, describing the future beautification project that was the brainchild of the Tennessee Interstate Conservancy, a nonprofit group spearheaded by former Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge Neil Thomas III.
The group persuaded the city, the county and – most importantly – the Tennessee Department of Transportation to play and pay along. The plants and landscaping will be done with donations to the Tennessee Interstate Conservancy.