While contractors have been working on building Phase Two of the widening of Apison Pike from Old Lee Highway to Ooltewah-Ringgold Road, TDOT has been planning Phase Three of the project that will eventually create a five-lane road from Ooltewah-Ringgold Road to east of Layton Lane near the Collegedale airport. A fourth project is in development that will widen the remainder of Apison Pike from near Layton Lane to East Brainerd Road to three lanes, thus completing an improved corridor connecting I-75 to East Brainerd Road.
The process actually began with public meetings in 2010 and again in 2013.
The city of Collegedale also provided TDOT a map of the existing greenway that runs through town and future plans to extend it. The greenway is heavily used in Collegedale and it has been a major consideration when designing the new road.
Representatives from TDOT gave a presentation Monday night to the commissioners and the public about the impact that the road construction will have on Collegedale and the greenway. The goal is to keep the trail usable throughout the work. In some cases temporary paths will be set up until the road work is past that point. At other places, a new section of the greenway to replace the areas affected will be completed before the existing greenway is abandoned so there will be no interruption of use. Some work will be done at night when the greenway is closed. The areas impacted by the construction will be a total of 865 feet, or three percent of the existing and future length of the greenway.
The new section of roadway will have two lanes in each direction, a center turn lane and four-foot shoulders on each side that will also serve as bike lanes. The total length of Phase Two will be 2.4 miles and will go from Ooltewah- Ringgold Road to Layton Lane.
The first step will be to get citizen comments, which TDOT must receive within the next 21 days in order to get approval for re-evaluation of the project. Next will be right-of-way appraisal by independent appraisers, followed by negotiations with the landowners. It was stated that 77 tracts need to be acquired, which is expected to take around one and a half years. Construction is currently funded for the spring of 2018.
There will be three crossings of the greenway in the 2.4 miles section. A 170-foot section of the greenway will be bridged, just west of Spalding Drive. A second bridge will cross University Drive replacing part of the pathway at City Park adjacent to Wolftever Creek and additional sidewalks will connect the existing greenway to the new sidewalk on University Drive. The third crossing will be at the Tallant Road intersection and existing Apison Pike. This is the most complicated crossing because the intersection has a round-about and an active railroad. This will be accomplished with an underpass. In Phase Four of the road building project, there will be three additional crossings of the planned future greenway.
Commissioner Phil Garver told the TDOT representatives how much it is appreciated that the greenway has been protected and respected during the planning of the new road.
The public is encouraged to provide comments and input on the project. There are various procedures for submitting them. Comments are needed by August 21.
Written comments can be submitted to: TDOT.Comments@tn.gov. or mailed to:
Public Comments
Tennessee Department of Transportation
Suite 700, James K. Polk Building
505 Deaderick Street
Nashville, TN 37243-0332
Scott Medlin, a TDOT representative, can also be contacted by phone at 423-510-1118, by email at Scott.Medlin@tn.gov or in writing at:
Mr. Scott Medlin
TDDOT Region 2
Project Development
Environmental
P.O. Box 22368
Chattanooga, TN 37422
A large map of the greenway and the road will be displayed for public review at the Collegedale Public Library.
All the information about the road building is available at the TDOT website.