IF YOU GO
East Brainerd – Monday, Sept. 23, 2019 Concord Baptist Church 7025 East Brainerd Road Chattanooga, Tennessee East Ridge – Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019 Camp Jordan Arena 323 Camp Jordan Parkway East Ridge, Tennessee Brainerd – Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019 Brainerd Crossroads (the BX) 4011 Austin Street Chattanooga, Tennessee
The Tennessee Department of Transportation is holding three public meetings in September in anticipation of heavy construction happening at the Interstate-75/Interstate-24 interchange beginning this fall.
The meetings will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in East Ridge, East Brainerd and Brainerd with a presentation beginning at 6 p.m. Each meeting will have the same presentation so residents only need to attend one.
The interchange at I-75 and I-24 - built in the late 1950s and early 1960s - has been the subject of improvement ideas since it notched its first 10 years of existence.
A fix finally arose in 2017 with former Gov. Bill Haslam's IMPROVE Act, as part of infrastructure investments for 101 individual projects in 40 Tennessee counties. The contract for the work was awarded in December 2018. Construction is expected to be finished by summer 2021.
More than 100,000 vehicles a day traverse the split, which is known for its daily backups, outdated merge lanes, frequent crashes and big-rig rollovers. And it's aging and suffering from wear and tear.
(Read more: Redo of I-75/I-24 interchange could impact nearby wetlands, state says)