CARTA transportation study running right on schedule

Some two dozen whiteboards showcased a variety of transportation ideas — including proposed new bus routes in Red Bank, Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain — at a recent CARTA public input meeting.

The boards illustrated the possibility of an express bus route to Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport and proposed designs for a transportation hub for buses, taxis, bicycles and possibly light-rail trains. Planners drew designs for a potential multimodal hub near the Chattanooga Choo Choo on Market Street and another at the former U.S. Pipe site on Broad Street.

The goal is to simplify services, accommodate new travel patterns and increase transfer opportunities for the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority’s estimated 3 million riders a year.

“If the bus doesn’t go by your house today, come let me know. We may have to add another route,” Greg Saur, a consultant with CDM Smith Inc. of Chattanooga, joked.

CDM Smith facilitated the transportation study.

The public meeting Thursday was the last of three that CARTA hosted before planners make a final report after an 18-month long transportation

study. CARTA representatives attended 40 additional community meetings gathering input for the study. CARTA Executive Director Lisa Maragnano expects the report will be ready in November.

The Benwood Foundation was the principle funder for the study. CARTA added Enterprise South industrial park routes this year. Prior to that, the transportation agency hadn’t updated its route since 1999, when it added more service in North and East Brainerd.

“I thank God that they’re going this far out,” said bus rider Murwan Mohamed after studying the expanded route designs showcased in the Chattanooga Choo Choo Imperial Ballroom on Thursday.

Mohamed, of East Chattanooga, rides the bus daily to his job at McKee Foods in Collegedale. He looks forward to more frequent routes to Collegedale and hopes the bus gets adjustable bike racks so larger bikes can fit easier.

Mohamed was among more than 100 people at the final public meeting. The crowd included bus riders, CARTA board members, staff, planners and Councilman Moses Freeman.

“I am particularly interested in convenience for the ridership,” said Freeman. “There are a lot of people who need to use this service in my district. I want to make sure that the routes are conducive for them.”

Freeman said he’s also impressed with proposed express routes to Hamilton Place mall and Northgate Mall that, he estimates, will cut travel time in half.

Maragnano said the displays only proposed plans and that more public input meetings will be scheduled after the final report before CARTA implements any changes.

Implementation, however, depends on funding, said Veronica Peebles, CARTA’s manager of communications.

CARTA will ask surrounding municipalities that once contributed financially to CARTA to contribute again in exchange for bus service. CARTA also is considering applying for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery [TIGER] grant and any other federal or local funding available.

“This is helping get the bus routes,” said Sharon Palmer, of East Lake Courts, whose biggest concern was more buses running on Sunday. Buses don’t operate on Sunday in her area until 11 a.m., so riders miss Sunday school and they’re late for church, she said. She also wants to have buses run later at night.

Palmer also said she can never see the last performance during the Riverbend Festival because the last bus to East Lake leaves downtown at 9:40 p.m.

That’s just after the main act starts, she said.

Bessie Lewis, of Highland Park, said she needs buses to stick closer to the posted schedules. She said she can understand buses being late if drivers have to take extra time with passengers, but they should not be early. When she called to complain after realizing she missed a bus that came early, she said CARTA employees told her to be at the bus stop 15 minutes early.

Lewis, who is in her 80s, said some bus stops have no seating and she can’t stand that long.

Other meeting participants used sticky notes to ask CARTA for 24-hour access to bathrooms at the proposed multimodal site, roundthe-clock bike racks and rental and expanded services in East Ridge for people who live in hotels and have to walk through the Bachman Tubes to catch the bus.

The proposed changes would improve access to the transportation system, said Freeman.

“This is phenomenal,” he said. “It changes availability to the system. People will be able to get to work faster, get to church faster, get to shopping malls faster, wherever they want to go.”

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6431.