Chattanooga Transportation

Chattanooga can easily be reached by car, especially if you live in the Southeast. It is within two hours driving distance of Atlanta, Birmingham, Huntsville, Nashville, and Knoxville. Interstate 75 runs through Chattanooga, while Interstates 24 and 59 begin here. Our airport, although small, currently offers service from Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, Cincinatti, Chicago, DC, Dallas, and Houston. Also, the cities of Chattanooga and Atlanta are partnering up to try to build a high-speed rail service between our two airports. This is in effort to transfer some of Atlanta airport's massive amount of business to Chattanooga and to reduce traffic along I-75 between the two cities. If this rail is built, one will be able to get from Atlanta to Chattanooga in about half an hour, and will make Chattanooga easily accessible to the entire world as Atlanta already is. With Congress willing, high-speed ground travel will one day be commonplace in America, although probably never as popular as it is in Europe.

The free electric shuttle that goes around downtown Chattanooga is just great. It goes close to most of the main attractions of downtown Chattanooga, which is nice. All of the shuttle's stops are clearly marked, so you don't have to try to "hail" the shuttle. This is a very nice transportation system for a city this size.

This is the first city we have been in where the city footed the bill for the downtown buses.
No tickets to buy, no coins to stick in the bus-box, no all-day passes to lose.... just smile and get on and ride.

The buses were all electric; quiet, pollution-free. The drivers were courteous and instructive to help us get where we were going in a strange city.

Those who have a difficult time ascending or descending stairs, as well a lazy folks, will appreciate this glass enclosed sidewalk elevator, which is located between the Tennessee Aquarium and the Walnut Street Bridge. Alexandria and Nicholas, my grandchuildren, enjoyed it to. An outdoor sculpture garden adorns the area both above and below the elevator.

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The surrounding area from downtown is large and deceiving as to how far until you drive it. US 75 and 24 connect here. There can be traffic jams, especially when the ice effects the roads here. Due to elevation and fringe of weather impact, it can get icy here often. There are also many traffic accidents on the highway due to slippery pavement and speedy drivers. That stops everything dead. WE waited once for about 5 hours to get through the town going south.

Chattanooga offers a free Electric Shuttle Service that will get you around the downtown area free of charge. It runs from the north terminal by the aquarium down to the south terminal near the Chattanooga choo-choo museum.

It's run by CARTA who also offers a more extensive bus line over other parts of Chattanooga.

It's a good way to get around town, the Electric shuttles are quiet, the drivers are extremely friendly and best of all, it's FREE!