The City Council on Tuesday narrowly approved proceeding with a major redesign of Third and Fourth streets, including a new roundabout at the intersection with Riverfront Parkway.
Council members had little discussion on the $15 million project earlier, but Councilman Larry Grohn quickly moved to deny a resolution to pay designers to get the work ready to go out to bid.
Joining him in opposition were Yusuf Hakeem, Ken Smith and Chairman Chip Henderson.
However, the project will be going forward due to support from Moses Freeman, Carol Berz, Russell Gilbert, Jerry Mitchell and Chris Anderson.
The City Council action approved a resolution calling for a $2,234,132 study. The city's portion would be $446,826 with the remainder coming from a state transportation grant.
The study is to be conducted by Parsons Brinckerhoff, a multi-national engineering and design firm based in New York City.
The Riverfront Parkway changes will be in the section between Lookout Street and its convergence with Third and Fourth streets near Citizens Cemetery. The change would convert it more to a boulevard rather than a throughway, while seeking to take off some of the traffic load with new connections.
There would be not one new connection with the parkway from near Erlanger Hospital, but three as part of the total $15 million project.
A map of the project shows a roundabout at the convergence of the parkway with Third and Fourth streets. That would replace the current Third Street bridge over an entryway to the parkway from Fourth Street.
The map says planners are considering at-grade intersections with the parkway at Mabel Street and at Georgia Avenue. That would replace current bridges at those intersections. The map says "further study is needed" on that idea. Mabel Street is at the foot of Battery Place and is currently reached from Fourth Street by going under a parkway bridge or an off ramp from the parkway. Third Street goes under a parkway bridge at Georgia Avenue near the Veterans Bridge.
The map shows the planned Central Avenue Extension that reaches the parkway near the Boathouse Restaurant. It goes on the west side of Lincoln Park and crosses Citico Creek before reaching the parkway.
There would be new connections to the parkway from two streets that now almost reach it, but not quite. One would be the section of Siskin Drive that is just west of the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences. The second would be at the end of Siskin Drive near the former St. Barnabas Nursing Home.
The plan shows converting Houston and Lindsay streets near the parkway to two-way. Houston now runs north and Lindsay runs south.
For the parkway section near Lookout Street and the Bluff View Art District, the plan would "extend the boulevard treatment with on-street parking and development opportunities within the row of way limits."
The University Greenway would be extended from the UTC campus beyond Third Street to the riverwalk.