Interstate 124
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main otherScript error: No such module "Infobox road/errors".Template:Main otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Main other Interstate 124 (I-124) is an unsigned designation for a short segment of a controlled-access highway located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
During periods where this Template:Convert segment of U.S. Route 27 (US 27) has been signed as I-124, it has served as a spur route of I-24 to downtown Chattanooga. The road segment has not been signed as I-124 since the late 1980s (it is marked on overhead signs and milemarkers as US 27),[1] and the Tennessee Department of Transportation official map no longer designates it as I-124, but some DOT publications still make reference to the designation, and its exit numbers remain.[2]
Route description
The US 27 freeway diverges from I-24 just before the Moccasin Bend in the Tennessee River, continues north through downtown Chattanooga, and then across the Tennessee River as a limited-access freeway on the P. R. Olgiati Bridge. The river is the point at which the I-124 designation ends. After crossing the river, the freeway continues under the US 27 designation for another Template:Convert, beyond which the spur continues under the State Route 111 (SR 111) designation for a further Template:Convert.
The entire length of I-124 is part of the National Highway System, a system of routes determined to be the most important for the nation's economy, mobility, and defense.[3]
History
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The route that is now I-124 was proposed in the 1950s by then-mayor of Chattanooga P.R. "Rudy" Olgiati to provide a secondary access across the Tennessee River and relieve congestion, which had developed on the Market Street and Walnut Street Bridges.[4] The section of highway between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard was built between 1955 and 1959.[4] The southern portion, located between I-24 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, was built between 1961 and 1963, when that corresponding section of I-24 was built. The interchange with I-24, known as the "Big Scramble", was reworked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the I-124 signage was removed at this time.[1]
A major reconstruction project commenced in December 2015 to widen and modernize I-124, which reconstructed all interchanges, provided adequate shoulders and median dividers, widened the route to six lanes, and removed the S-curve at the 4th Street interchange. Originally scheduled to be completed by July 2019, the project ran into multiple setbacks, which delayed the completion until January 2021.[5]
Exit list
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