A Toll Bridge Is Needed From Soddy Daisy To Ooltewah - And Response (7)

  • Wednesday, August 31, 2016
The ridiculous route
The ridiculous route

I am writing about the critical need for a new bridge from the Soddy Daisy, Hixson, Middle Valley, Lakesite area across the Tennessee River to the Harrison, Ooltewah, Snow Hill area. I know there has been talk in the past, and this need has indeed grown even more severe.  

When I bought my house in Soddy Daisy in the fall of 2012, I was astounded to find out that the only evacuation routes were Hixson Pike or Sequoyah Access Road to Highway 27 (routing all traffic only north or south). It is eight miles in either direction before you can cross a bridge to get over the river and go east or west. This is appalling.  

I read that the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant evacuation plan clears out 85,000 people in a 10-mile radius of the plant.  You know there are more people than that at the time the report was given and definitely more since then.   Furthermore, the main and closest route to and from Sequoyah is Hixson Pike which, for several miles of it, is a narrow, curvy, single lane (one lane in either direction) road. I can assure you from personal experience there is no way they are all getting out on those clogged little pathways.  This is a very serious issue. 

I live right next to the Sequoyah Nuclear plant in Soddy Daisy and I work for McKee Foods Corporation in Collegedale. It takes me an hour one way each day in rush hour traffic and I leave at 6:15 a.m. (I can only imagine how much worse it is around 7:30 a.m).  This twice daily commute is absolutely dreadful, not to mention highly dangerous. Every day, the traffic is almost bumper to bumper all the way down the rural two-lane Hixson Pike until I can get onto Highway 153 and then the traffic gets even thicker.  There is no other route. Both Highway 153 and US-27 are extremely overcrowded.  These roads are dangerously high risk with frequent fatalities occurring all the time due to all the excess traffic because there is no other alternative.

The ludicrousness of this situation became evident to me this past summer when I wanted to go see a friend in Harrison (please see the attached screenshot). When I mapped the route on my phone, you can see I had to drive a complete 45 minute circle to get to a neighborhood I could practically swim to.   There just isn’t any other route to get from Soddy Daisy to Highway 58. A new bridge would make a 15-minute drive out of what is now almost an hour’s trek from Soddy-Daisy to Harrison. 

As you can see from the map,  a new bridge would relieve 27-South and I-24 of much of the heavy traffic that also clogs downtown Chattanooga on its way to I-75.  With a new bridge, we probably wouldn’t see the daily pile up of cars around the Hamilton Place mall exits and the 75 split. 

If this bridge were a toll bridge, it would pay for itself in record time. You would think the cities would gladly welcome a new revenue stream brought in by a toll bridge. I would happily pay for the savings in gasoline and precious time, not to mention the benefits of better safety and peace of mind, since it would mean far less time on the road.  

I implore you, please tell me what can we do to get a new bridge built? I will be glad to write letters, make signs, call the officials, anything, whatever it takes.  It’s time to make this happen.  Please.  

Lynn Dearing 

* * * 

Lynn, 

Building a bridge north of the Highway 153 Dam makes complete sense. Overall this would cause Soddy Daisy, Sale Creek, Lakesite, Middle Valley, Hixson along with Rhea and Sequatchie Counties to explode with growth. 

Since I moved to Hamilton County in 2013 I have heard this be discussed many times by Soddy Daisy locals. Even rumors that it was discussed by elected officials in the past.  

Senator Mike Carter and County Commissioner Randy Fairbanks would be the first two people I would contact about this idea.  

Jimmie Webb
Soddy Daisy

* * *

Ms. Lynn,
 
A TDOT study was done within the last year and was reported in the Times Free Press.   It stated that the cost of using the toll bridge would be around $4.00 one way.   Are you prepared to spend $8.00 round trip each time you visit your friend?
 
How about the people that would use this toll bridge daily?
 
Phil Terry

* * *

With all due respect.  Unless Lynn is driving a Prius I would say $8 is already being spent on gas for the round trip.  

I also can’t vouch for how other commuters value their time, but saving 30 minutes of drive time one way has to be valued into the $4 toll as well.  I would also have to assume it would alleviate the congestion on the Chickamauga Dam, which as we all know is a bottleneck every single afternoon around 5 p.m.

 I say money well spent regardless of the fact if I personally would ever have to utilize it.

Chris Morgan

Chattanooga

* * *

A far lesser expensive option, one that could prove the demand is there for a bridge, is a ferry boat.  For 100 years ferries carried people, carriages, cargo and supplies across the Tennessee River until the Walnut Street Bridge was constructed.  Perhaps allow private enterprise to begin such a an option, and see what happens.

Justin Strickland

* * *

Didn’t President Obama promise and spend bazillions on “shovel ready jobs” in his so called stimulus package that has more than doubled the national debt of all previous administrations?

 

Oh that’s right, if you weren’t a Democratic connected, ponzi scheme “Green” corporation that stayed in business no longer than e-mails on Hillary’s illegal sever there was no Federal “investment” money.

 

Yes, Miss Dearing is right, It would benefit not only the communities of Soddy Daisy and Birchwood but so many commuters to Chattanooga and Nashville offering viable alternate routes.

 

Falling for a toll bridge is a slippery slope because I can guarantee you that it wouldn’t be the last.

 

The money is there and hopefully we will see a change in our government from one that benefits those inside and connected to one that takes care of “We The People”.

 

Jay Reed

Falling Water 

 

* * * 

 

Please see the article titled Tennessee River Toll Bridge Idea Sunk Due To Cost in the TFP on July 22.  It says Tennessee Transportation Commissioner John Schroer came to Hamilton County on Wednesday, July 20, to break the news to local political leaders.  The costs are outlined in the article.  

 

State Rep Mike Carter, County Commissioners Randy Fairbanks and Chester Bankston, County Mayor Jim Coppinger and Soddy Daisy City Manager Janice Cagle are all quoted on their reactions.  


Pamela N. Stone

 

* * *

If anyone  thinks a toll road will ease congestion on 27 I sincerely believe they are incorrect. People, like most animals will take the easiest path.  What I believe we will get is fast and heavy interstate traffic connecting through our fairly quiet town of Soddy Daisy. If we encourage the increased congestion it will not be very long before a highway widening project will begin on 27 that will possibly last for years. With more traffic comes the need for a larger police department, a larger city budget, which will boil down to higher property taxes. Chances are home and business owners will shoulder the load.

 

If you came to Soddy Daisy for its charm and quality of life, don't destroy it with this unnecessary and unwanted bridge. If you work too far from where you live. Do as they do in large cities.  Consider a move closer to where you work.

J.D. French
Soddy Daisy

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