Concerning the recent heart-breaking accident on the interstate near East Ridge:
When I first saw that design, I thought WHAT? What genius rocket scientist designed this?
You wanna continue north toward Knoxville? One would think automatically, start merging right...... but NOOOO!!! If you wanna go north, you gotta get in the left lane, which is opposite of what one's natural instinct tells you... then watch for dangerous sudden lane changes from drivers who think they must change lanes immediately. Wanna go west? Then you must get in the right lane... the very lane that one's instinct tells you that you are now headed to Knoxville.
I'm afraid there will be more horrible accidents until this is corrected.
Chattanooga now has its very own Malfunction Junction in my opinion, All this confusion, thanks to bonehead planners with the so called Tennessee Department of Safety.
Fix it, guys, just FIX IT. -
I am Ben Cagle and I approve this message.
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When someone has bad instincts, maybe they should actually look at the signs.
If going north (or any direction) on a major highway where a different highway starts by splitting off of the one you are on, it is bad instincts to think you would have to go to a right hand exit to continue on the road you are on. That was the original design of “exit” positioning to continue on I-75 going north. And there was always last minute drivers forcing their way into the right hand “exit” position to continue on I-75. Before the change, I have had a mirror ripped off by a late lane changer panicking to go right to the “exit” position in order to continue on I-75, as well as many other times with close calls.
When going north on I-75, it is an “exit” to change from I-75 to I-24 and that belongs on the right, while the continuous left lanes continue on I-75. But it does not really matter if people would read the signs.
According to someone’s instinct, I guess the TN-153 exit off of I-75 north needs to be changed to be on the left and to continue north on I-75, shouldn’t it have to move right to the “exit” position to continue north?
Left hand exits from a highway are never a good option over having left hand lanes CONTINUE on the same road. Left (I-75 to I-75), not (I-75 to I-24) or (I-75 to TN-153).
I am Jim Hill and I ONLY approve this message.
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Mr. Hall, I'm sure that the I-75/I-24 split met all of the currant federal "guidelines" when approved for construction. And in most cases I agree that left exits are bad. However in a divergence of equals is this best? I do not have traffic counts, but 30 years of driving north up I-75 to I-24 west daily, tells me that it's about 40 percent that goes west. And what about the I-75/I-85 split on the north side of Atlanta? That one is real close to 50 percent, but the road is signed I-85 so we exit right to go left. TN-153 in not an interstate highway, it is not a divergence of equals. And I am old enough to have driven from East Brainerd Road to TN-153 north when it was a left exit.
The whole I-75/I-24 is a step back for every one going east on I-24. Southbound traffic now finds themselves in exit only lanes or a lane that ends just past the exit 1 ramp. Northbound is still a mystery as it is still under construction. They both used to have a through lane.
I-24 west will still back up because the problem is from exit 178 west. All the current work is doing is adding parking. All these new lanes end by Germantown Road.
In short, if you are through traffic on I-75 it’s better. If your route includes I-24 not so much, and if it’s I24 east it’s bad.
George Odom
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I don't think the widening of the freeway behind Eastgate will resolve the traffic problems. As I have stated before in this forum, what is needed is a bypass both north and south around Chattanooga.
The preliminary plans are already drawn and are hidden in a drawer somewhere at T.D.O.T. The north bypass takes off from I-75 above Ooltewah and crosses the river near Sequoyah/Soddy Daisy. The south bypass starts around the I-59/I-24 split and goes around below Cleveland. Both of these are on paper.
Every major city in Tennessee has a bypass except Chattanooga.
Just sayin...for the third time.
Ernie McCarson