A stretch of South Crest Road that Missionary Ridge residents expected to reopen is closed again, renewing frustration nearly a year after an earlier shutdown tied to emergency sewer work.
The city says the original closure in January happened because of an emergency sewer pipe, but residents say the work created new safety problems and has again disrupted traffic and access for people who live nearby.
“It’d be nice if they started on it and came every day and finished on it,” says Missionary Ridge resident Stan Corcoran.
Missionary Ridge resident Rob Masters says the underlying issue appears to be more than a surface problem.
“The biggest part is the next section where the road is sunk, and they’ve been trying to just patch it up, but it’s clearly there’s something wrong underneath,” Masters says.
Residents also say the closure and signage can create confusion for drivers unfamiliar with the area, leading some to turn into private property.
“They get up to our driveway here and, they don’t know what to do. And some of them try to drive through the driveway,” Masters says.
Neighbors say they are glad repairs are underway on the bumpy roadway, but they want clearer communication about how long the work will take, especially after a completion date of Monday listed in a city press release passed without the project being finished.
“I know that they started doing the repairing the road that they took up, and then they just stopped and they haven’t been working on it for, you know, a week or two. I don’t know why,” Corcoran says.
Questions about the delay were taken to Jerramy Wood with Chattanooga Public Works…