ROAD PROJECTS APLENTY IN BUDGET

For many Chattanoogans, if they feel safe, if their garbage is picked up regularly and if their roads are properly maintained, they have few complaints.

Since the police force is relatively stable and the garbage service is reliable, it’s roads that often bring the most citizen concerns because their condition can change depending on weather, usage and age.

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly’s proposed 2024 budget, released last week, includes $10 million for paving but

$187 million for all roads and public infrastructure, most of which goes to wastewater projects. The non-wastewater spending over five years is nearly $225 million.

Among the road/bridge/trail projects city residents will want to keep their eye on over the next five years:

› Alton Park Connector: The city will invest $5 million total in fiscal 2025 and 2026 for a pedestrian accessway that will connect the Tennessee River and parts of Alton Park and beyond.

› Broad Street redesign: The project, in which River City Company oversaw a planning initiative to make the well-traveled downtown street safer, greener and livelier, will get $2.5 million in fiscal 2025 through fiscal 2028.

› Central Avenue extension: The plan, in the works for more than a decade, would extend Central Avenue along the edge of storied Lincoln Park, allowing ambulances to save precious minutes in reaching Erlanger hospital, but the neighborhood has pushed back and federal paperwork has flown back and forth over the issue. No money is set aside for the project until fiscal 2026, when $10.5 million is allotted.

› East Lake connections: In fiscal 2027, $500,000 is set aside for a linear park/urban trail from the East Lake Park area to Crabtree Farms, then linking up to the Alton Park Connector, which provides access to the Riverwalk.

› Goodwin Road: The newish road, which now links Gunbarrel and Jenkins roads in East Brainerd, eventually will connect to the revised Hamilton Place interchange (see below), with investments of $800,000 in fiscal 2026 and $3 million in fiscal 2027.

› Hamilton Place Boulevard: The city will invest

$1.5 million in fiscal 2024 and $1 million in fiscal 2025 for its portion of the work to improve the interchange on the Hamilton Place mall ring road being developed by the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

› Highway 58 bicycle and pedestrian facilities: The project, with $1.1 million set for fiscal 2025 and $2.5 million for fiscal 2026, continues work on a shared-use sidewalk, which previously benefited from a $10 million city allotment in 2015.

› Lake Resort slope repair: Work on Lake Resort Drive in Hixson, for various reasons, has been ongoing for nearly 20 years. The fiscal 2024 budget invests a last $400,000 on the road, a portion of which dropped several inches following heavy rains in 2019.

› Manufacturers Road/Hamm Gateway: A 2017 plan, apparently never implemented, would have redesigned the two roads adjacent to the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District, including the addition of a 10-foot-wide pedestrian and bike path, as well as street planters, trees and new lighting. The project is to receive $1.4 million in fiscal 2025.

› Shallowford Road: The road’s two-lane bottleneck between Airport Road and Jersey Pike will get a lane each way, along with a shared-use path, and two bridges will be replaced. Funding will begin with $800,000 in fiscal 2025, $2 million in fiscal 2026 and $10 million each in fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2028, in the budget’s biggest road project over the five years.

› Third and Fourth Street Corridor: A 2016 Mayor Andy Berke administration-era redesign of the roads in the hope of offering the best connectivity of the streets to downtown is under review, with the final design to receive $5 million in funding in fiscal 2027.

› Walnut Street Bridge: The city’s beloved pedestrian bridge, which received a $2.7 million makeover in 2016, will receive $18 million for repairs in the fiscal 2024 budget and another $2.25 million in fiscal 2025. Kelly said the decking is rotting, and its superstructure must be stripped, sandblasted and repainted. The lighting and security systems also will be replaced, and the electrical systems upgraded.

› Wilcox Boulevard bridge: The 67-year-old viaduct over the Norfolk Southern railroad yards in East Chattanooga, off limits to emergency vehicles and freight trucks for some years due to its condition, will get $1.63 million in fiscal 2024 and $10.37 million in fiscal 2025 for a replacement, the cost for which was estimated at $60 million in 2022. A $25 million federal grant will help.

A danger naturally exists in putting out a five-year budget because, inevitably, some things won’t get funded as planned, priorities will change and people will be disappointed. Nevertheless, such a budget is also important for planning, funding and allocation purposes.

As we review the Kelly administration’s list, we see projects in most areas of the city, projects that benefit motorists but also walkers and bikers, projects that make critical updates and projects that offer better connectivity. Indeed, the five-year budget glimpse offers proof that while needed paving will continue, other projects aren’t being put on the back-burner.

Besides, it’s never too soon for impatient motorists to be planning their 2027 detours.