CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Drivers who use the Shallowford Road interchange on Interstate 75 in Chattanooga will need a backup plan this weekend. Two ramps there are set to close in turn so state bridge crews can keep building the new overpass.
First up is the northbound Exit 5 off-ramp from I-75 onto Shallowford Road. Crews plan to shut it Friday night at 8, and it should open again sometime Saturday afternoon or evening. While it is closed, the Tennessee Department of Transportation plans to pull out the last of the temporary falsework holding up the structure and finish the bridge deck sections that sit above the ramp lane.
After that, the work moves to the other side. Drivers heading from Shallowford Road onto I-75 south will lose that entrance ramp, along with both westbound left-turn lanes that lead onto it. That closure is penciled in to end late Sunday evening, though it could run into Monday morning if work takes longer.
The state has set a firm deadline: every ramp closure must be cleared by 6 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26, ahead of the weekday commute.
The interchange serves East Brainerd, the suburban side of Hamilton County that grew up along I-75 after the interstate was finished in the 1960s and 1970s. Shallowford Road is one of the main retail roads in the area, along with Lee Highway and Gunbarrel Road, and Hamilton Place Mall, the largest mall in Tennessee, sits nearby, so weekend shoppers are likely to feel the closures.
The city’s Public Works Department passed the alert on to drivers. The work is part of the TDOT bridge project known as CNNX358. Motorists should expect slowdowns near the interchange and are urged to pick other routes until the ramps reopen.
Section: More Chattanooga TN crime news
Filed under: Chattanooga TN Traffic News
