Chip Henderson
City Council Chairman Chip Henderson said an Oct. 14 incident in which a semi-truck flipped on its side on I-24 at Moccasin Bend illustrates how such wrecks often put Lookout Valley into "gridlock."
In that case, the wreck happened at 7:11 a.m. and the interstate was not cleared until 5:12 p.m.
Chairman Henderson said, "It was shutdown in Lookout Valley that day with cars and trucks lined up along Brown's Ferry Road and through neighborhoods. You couldn't get out of your driveway. People couldn't get out to pick up their kids at school or go to the doctor."
At a City Council hearing, he was told that a solution will not be easy or quick, but there is a TDOT plan to widen I-24 around Moccasin Bend and Congressman Chuck Fleischmann secured a $5 million earmark to study the cost of widening Cummings Highway and raising railroad overpasses that date to the early 1900s.
Police Chief John Chambers said the semi landed on its side after a car swerved in front of it.
He said Yates wrecker service was at the scene by 8:19 a.m. He said the driver believed that it had a contract with Yates, but that did not prove the case. He said it was then necessary to call the next firm on the tow rotation list. That was Monteagle Towing (which has a Chattanooga location).
Chief Chambers said Monteagle had arrived by 8:50 a.m., but it then determined it would need to bring in additional equipment.
He said when the truck was finally righted that it was found the side had split and the contents spilled out on the roadway - so there was another process to load those items.
Chief Chambers said one of the two freeway lanes was opened early on. He said it was determined that it was unsafe to open the second lane until the truck was removed and all the items loaded.
Chief Chambers said there needs to be an infrastructure review as well as a joint meeting of affected agencies.
He noted that in such a shutdown that Cummings Highway is the only option, but it has the low overpasses and a windy, narrow route on the side of Lookout Mountain.
He said that during the Oct. 14 incident there was one crash on Cummings Highway at 8:05 a.m. Then at 12:40 a chicken truck tried to plow through the low overpass leading into St. Elmo and found it could not fit.
Other large trucks had to make an awkward turn near Sonofi (Chattem) and in some cases there had to be someone out directing them - further clogging the road.
Councilman Darrin Ledford, who has a printing business on Broad Street not far from the St. Elmo overpass, said, "We just sat there all day. I watched the chicken truck try to go through. I was screaming, 'Don't do it. Don't do it.' But they did. It was horrible."
Officials said there is the possibility, in such situations, of lining up traffic lights to give a "green" pathway along Broad Street back onto the freeway.