Railroad around Moccasin Bend. Click to enlarge.
In February, 1854, Chattanooga was connected to points west via the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. The builders of the 151-mile route overcame numerous challenges of the topography, including the Cumberland Mountains and the Tennessee River. The railroad entered Chattanooga on a narrow strip of riverbank at the base of Lookout Mountain and the Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River. In tourist publications, that location was compared to Thermopylae, a pass in ancient Greece between Mount Oeta and the Malian Gulf. After travel by automobile became popular, Hamilton County built the new Wauhatchie Pike (opened in 1918 and approved for widening in 1930) around the slopes of Lookout Mountain. Wauhatchie Pike was part of the Chattanooga to Jasper highway, which was later named the Will Cummings Highway, in honor of the Hamilton County Judge who had promoted highway improvements. Until the 1960’s, all traffic from Nashville and Birmingham entered Chattanooga on the winding curves of Cummings Highway, which bore the route markers of U.S. 11, 41, 64, and 72. Tractor-trailers often became stuck as they attempted to navigate the low railroad overpass near St. Elmo. Then, another “Your Tax Dollars at Work” project was begun.
Planners of the Interstate Highway routes through Chattanooga realized that the entrance from the west would include obstacles of the mountain and river. In 1957, an engineering firm had recommended that I-24 cross the northern “ankle” of Moccasin Bend. The plan also included a canal at that location, and dams to cut off the flow of water around the bend. It was not clear in my reading how the water from Lookout and Chattanooga Creeks, which flow into the Tennessee River at Moccasin Bend, would be accommodated by the canal plan. In addition to being a more direct route than following the river’s course, proponents noted that there would be side benefits of reduced flood hazard and shortened travel times by boat. However, in 1959, the U.S. Bureau of Public Road rejected the route across Moccasin Bend as being too costly. Converting Cummings Highway into the interstate route was also seen as not practical.
An alternative plan was approved which required relocation of the Tennessee River, but with minimal disfiguring of Moccasin Bend. In order to do that, a quarter million tons of rock was dumped 280 feet out into the river to make the bed for the highway. The rock was hauled from the Dave Brown quarry, five miles to the south on the Birmingham Highway (U.S. 11). The Tennessee Valley Authority and Army Corps of Engineers required that the width of the river channel be preserved for flood control and navigation. So, on the opposite shore, up to 400 feet of dirt was removed. Local leaders had been considering Moccasin Bend as the site of a new technical school, and suggested using the dirt as fill. However, the present location of Chattanooga State was selected instead of Moccasin Bend.
On December 16, 1966, the $14-million section of I-24 around Moccasin Bend was dedicated. Mrs. Will Cummings participated in the ribbon-cutting. Tennessee’s Governor Frank Clement noted that the Chattanooga area was “the first in the southeast to have all its Interstate mileage open to traffic.” At the time of the dedication, Tennessee had completed over half of its interstate. He also said that while the section of highway was “probably Tennessee’s costliest road, costing just over $2 million a mile,” the new route was a great safety improvement over Cummings Highway. “It eliminates a stretch of road that gives me nightmares every time I drive over it,” he said.
If you have memories of the construction of Interstate 24 around Moccasin Bend, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@signaldata.net.