CARTA received a $630,000 federal grant to examine the potential for transit-oriented development along Brainerd Road and Lee Highway, a federal agency announced Thursday.
The grant was among the $10.5 million the Federal Transit Administration awarded to 11 efforts throughout the nation to connect communities and improve access to transit and affordable housing, the announcement said.
(READ MORE: Chattanoogans will soon get a new way to pay bus fare)
Brainerd Road is already on the route of the most well-used bus line the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority runs.
And the announcement Thursday noted that the corridor has been identified in Chattanooga planning documents as a potential high-capacity transit line for the Chattanooga metropolitan area.
That “Plan Chattanooga” draft document for the neighborhood said the corridor has the potential for more dense walkable patterns and mixed-used buildings in place of its current “car-oriented” commercial developments.
According to that planning document, Brainerd Road has in recent years seen one of the highest concentrations of crashes on Chattanooga streets that left people dead or seriously injured.
Contact Andrew Schwartz at aschwartz@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.