posted September 11, 2008
I note a recent opinion piece regarding the road situation at the new VW plant. Thank goodness I was living out of the area when Hamilton Place was opened. However, I heard about the nightmare traffic situation.
Now granted VW will have some 2,000 people with high paying jobs, but there is an employer that will soon tower over the city that has over 4,000 employees. That just happens to be Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee.
Sometime early next year all of the offices that are scattered throughout the area will be consolidated on top of the hill. Has anything been done, being done, or planned for the crush of traffic that will converge at MLK in the mornings and afternoons?
Now of course the company will tell you that flexible hours will take care of all traffic problems. That is not the case - the flexible hours are very limited in scope and no matter what is said the downtown traffic will become a nightmare the day the new gleaming palace to non profit greed is open for business.
There are only two ramps, both only one lane, that will service MLK from the north and south. Can that handle the 4,000 cars that will be using the parking garage? I doubt they can. However, if you drive a hybrid you get a preferred parking spot at the new facility. It will just take you an hour to get from the ramp to the building.
Let us remember to thank the city fathers, and, of course, Ms. Gregg of BCBST when you are late for an appointment. God forbid an emergency requires a trip to Erlanger, a court appearance, or any number of things that could have been avoided had someone taken action.
Gene Hall
Chattanooga
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Two things appear obvious to me:
1. The writer has a major ax to grind with Blue CrossBlue Shield (and maybe it's valid, just stating the obvious) as noted by the many negative references.
2. The writer may not be aware that most of the 4,000 current BCBST employees scattered "across the area" are actually currently scattered within a few blocks of the BCBST gold building downtown right now, yet we seem to get by with the usual traffic rush hour experienced by most cities our size.
It is true that they will now be concentrated on Cameron Hill, but there are two entrances to Cameron Hill now, one available by taking Riverfront around and avoiding MLK altogether - and this route is not very busy in the a.m. now as most "Amnicolans" exit Riverfront Parkway by the time they've gone past the Aquarium.
I"m not saying there won't be some issues when they crank up the new headquarters, but I doubt it will reach the scale implied. An hour to reach Cameron Hill from MLK? We'll see.
I for one am grateful BCBST decided to build their headquarters (and keep the jobs) here rather than move to another Tennessee city.
C. Graham
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