Chattanooga: Highway linking VW plant, I-75 opened

Hamilton County and Volkswagen officials today opened a new one-mile parkway that connects the automaker's new plant with Interstate 75.

"The interchange to nowhere will finally go somewhere," Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield said.

Littlefield said the $30 million project "was a bet that paid off."

Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey recalled that it has taken 12 years to get this point, saying that it was during former Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist's administration when design of the Volkswagen Drive began.

"This is a historic occasion," Ramsey said. "This opens one more artery to progress and prosperity."

VW's $1 billion auto assembly plant being built at Enterprise South will handle production of the company's new midsize sedan beginning early next year. The plant expects to employ about 2,000 people.

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