TDOT officials said Friday they have been working closely with the city of Chattanooga and the River City Company on the redesigned US 27 through downtown and were not aware of concerns about the design.
At an Urban Design Challenge session on Thursday night, the planning road expressed concerns about ramps at Fourth Street not being closer to the highway and about a proposed flyover from MLK Boulevard to Fourth Street.
TDOT Deputy Commissioner and Chief Engineer Paul Degges said, "Statements made at the meeting were not consistent with the collaboration between TDOT, the city of Chattanooga, and River City. The access to US 27 from downtown has been coordinated closely with the city of Chattanooga, and the ramp configurations we show are designed to provide safe access while being mindful of the context of the community's gateway.
"We have been working with the city of Chattanooga for several years to come up with a transportation solution that meets the needs of the community and also meets the gateway aspirations. Department officials have also met with River City on several occasions and were not aware of the concerns surrounding the final designs TDOT provided."
There were four TDOT representatives at the Urban Design Challenge meeting. They were: Wes Hughen, Assistant Regional Director Ken Flynn, Regional Construction Manager Robert Rodgers, and Assistant Regional Design Manager James Ball, TDOT Project Manager for the US-27 project that was discussed at the meeting.
TDOT officials said the project to widen US 27 from I-24 to south of the Olgiati Bridge has not been let to contract yet. Jennifer Flynn said, "It probably won’t happen until late 2013 at the earliest, and then you have at least 2-3 years of construction.
"Also, the project to widen the Olgiati Bridge itself will likely also be let at the same time. The estimates for the widening project are $80 million and the bridge widening is estimated to cost $11 million."
The proposed project would add additional travel lanes on I-124/US-27 and modify the interchanges at West Main Street, Martin Luther King Boulevard, and East Fourth Street. Project length is 1.4 miles. This project is funded for the right-of-way acquisition phase, and currently right-of-way acquisition has begun to acquire the properties necessary to construct the project. This phase is expected to be complete in the fall.
The project was included by the Legislature in the latest Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) to receive construction funding in Fiscal Year 2014. This project will be funded with National Highway - Interstate funds, which are 90 percent federal dollars and 10 percent state dollars.