Chattanooga commuters are feeling the squeeze with the narrower lanes on Interstates 75 and 24, reduced in width for construction associated with the state's project at the Tennessee state line interchange known as the split.
As part of Phase 2 of the $161 million project, road crews this week finished work to narrow the lanes on I-75 between the split and East Brainerd Road to three, 11-foot-wide lanes in each direction to allow room for construction of the new interstate bridge over the CSX railroad and additional lanes in both directions, according to Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesperson Rae Anne Bradley.
The project's two phases combined are intended to answer decades of backups and crashes at the split by changing the design of traffic flow, adding lanes to make the interstate at the interchange at least three lanes wide in all directions, replacing multiple bridges and improving on-ramps and off-ramps at access points through the corridor in Chattanooga, according to transportation officials.
"The contractor finished the traffic shift on I-75 south last night, so the shift has been fully implemented," Bradley said by phone.
The additional space will allow the contractor room to work on the outside portion of the new bridge over the CSX railroad, Bradley said.
Drivers headed to and from downtown Chattanooga also pass through a second section where the contractor has narrowed I-24 in both directions to three, 11-foot-wide lanes between the Spring Creek Road bridge and the Belvoir Avenue bridge, Bradley said.
"This traffic shift on I-75 and the one on I-24 will be in place for about a year," Bradley said. "The traffic shift on I-75 is very similar to the traffic shift implemented on I-24. They're doing the same thing, essentially."
Ramp modifications are also part of the changes on I-75 to allow for the lane shifts and new traffic pattern, Bradley said, including one on-ramp that has been substantially altered and significantly affects East Brainerd traffic.
East Brainerd
"If you're entering I-75 south from East Brainerd Road — normally you had your own dedicated lane continuing onto I-75 south, so it kind of delayed any merging you had to do on the interstate — but with this lane shift, they had to close that dedicated lane," Bradley said. "Drivers entering I-75 south from East Brainerd Road will have to merge directly onto I-75."
In other ramp changes, the right lane will be closed on the I-24 east ramp to I-75 north and on I-75 north as it passes under the I-24 ramp, plans show. The on-ramp from Exit 1 to I-75 north will be reduced, and traffic will be required to merge left earlier due to the narrower lanes and lane closures ahead.
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The narrowed section on I-75 south begins near East Brainerd Road, and on I-75 north the narrowed section begins a few hundred feet before the railroad bridge, plans show. Another ramp modification involves the I-75 interchange with state Highway 153 where the shoulder on the ramp from 153 to I-75 south is closed and traffic reduced to one lane.
No surprise
John Thomas, a 53-year-old Cleveland-to-Chattanooga commuter who has made the daily trip downtown for nearly two decades, takes the traffic snarls like a veteran boxer rolls with the punches.
"It's not been drastically worse than it was because what they did on the first phase made things worse," Thomas said in a phone interview. "So it's been continually the same, I think we might have more traffic in Chattanooga than we did."
Thomas said morning southbound traffic on I-75 seems to bear out his belief because there are daily backups where there were none in past years.
"We slow down now going over White Oak ... which used to never be a problem," he said of the ridge on the Hamilton-Bradley county line. "There's no wreck, there's just heavy traffic."
Since the lane work, some drivers have commented to TDOT on the interchanges at East Brainerd Road and Highway 153, Bradley said.
"We've gone back and added some signs and message boards to further assist drivers," she said.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.