The Hamilton Place Interchange Is Changing Your Turns Before Its New Ramps Open
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
"I think that there are people that decide to just not even deal with it, which sucks because, we're really passionate about the food and the service." Carolyn Crisp, bar manager at Taco Mamacita at Hamilton Place, said that to NewsChannel 9 in September. Her restaurant's entrance was being torn out and rebuilt as part of the Hamilton Place Boulevard improvements.
Her driveway shows where this project actually reaches everyday life. Most coverage of the I-75 work at Hamilton Place focuses on bridges and interstate ramps. The changes East Brainerd drivers will live with for years are smaller and closer to home. A new concrete median determines which way you approach a restaurant. A rebuilt entrance lets you in from one side only. A connector road around the mall is closed for retaining walls. Before the project opens a single new ramp, it is already changing which turns you can make.
The reason for all this work is a gap in the existing interchange. TDOT describes the project as completing directional access at Hamilton Place Boulevard. Southbound I-75 traffic gets a new exit to the Boulevard, and northbound traffic gets a new entrance from it, along with improvements to the existing ramps and intersections and new traffic signals.
When the project announcement came out in January 2023, the Chattanoogan laid out how the two new movements will work:
Because the new ramps have to braid over and under the existing ones, the job is bigger than it looks from the road. TDOT lists two new ramps with 16-foot lanes, three bridges, nine retaining walls, a noise wall, bridge and concrete repairs, new signs, and lighting. The Times Free Press reported in October 2023 that Summers-Taylor Inc. submitted the apparent low bid of $83 million, and Summers-Taylor is the contractor named on TDOT's current weekly reports.
The interstate ramps are half the job. The other half is a City of Chattanooga project on Hamilton Place Boulevard itself. TDOT describes it as a multilane road with 11-foot lanes, no shoulders, five-foot sidewalks on the east side, three signalized intersections, a retaining wall, and street lighting. The city and state work went to the same contractor, and TDOT runs both as one project.
That shared contract is why the work shows up at restaurant entrances. At Taco Mamacita, TDOT said crews were removing the existing driveway and building a new, upgraded entrance. Prep work started the week ending September 4, and removal and grading began the following week. The contractor kept half the driveway open for customers and deliveries.
The detail that will outlast the cones is the median. TDOT told NewsChannel 9 that access from both directions on Hamilton Place Boulevard had stayed open for now. Once the new concrete median is installed, though, drivers will need to reach Taco Mamacita from the southbound direction. If you usually come up the Boulevard from the other direction, your route will change permanently.
One customer told the station, "It was confusing. I'd say the cones were confusing," and described a big red dump truck blocking the entrance. A new sign now helps drivers find their way in. TDOT said it had not received complaints from Taco Mamacita specifically. It acknowledged "some minor issues raised by various businesses during construction, which is typical for a project of this scope," and said those get addressed as they come up.
TDOT expected the driveway to be fully finished by Friday, September 25, weather permitting. The remaining steps were final grading, concrete placement, curing, and finishing. We haven't seen confirmation that it finished on schedule. If you're heading there this week, follow the posted signs, and plan on approaching southbound once the median is in place.
TDOT's roadway activity report for October 1 through 7, 2026, lists these active traffic controls at the Hamilton Place interchange:
| Location | What's in place | What it means for a local trip |
|---|---|---|
| SR-153 southbound ramp to I-75 northbound | Reduced to one lane | Expect a slower merge coming from Hixson toward Ooltewah |
| I-75 northbound and southbound | Traffic shifts | Lane positions near the mall exit may not match what you remember |
| Shallowford Road entrance and exit ramps | Traffic shifts | This is the same ramp system the future southbound exit will share |
| Hamilton Place Mall exit ramp | Traffic shift | Watch for new lane markings as you come off the interstate |
| Hamilton Loop Road | Closed between the intersections near Markman's Jewelers and Texas Roadhouse | Retaining wall and storm drainage work; plan a different route around the mall |
| Project-wide | Nightly lane closures permitted 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. | Late dinners and late movies may mean narrower lanes on the drive home |
These reports cover one week at a time, and TDOT notes that schedules can change with weather and other conditions. The Hamilton Loop Road closure matters most for errands, because it removes a back route around the mall that many drivers use to avoid the Boulevard.
The work also shifts closures over time. In mid-September, TDOT's report for that week listed an overnight closure of the I-75 southbound entrance ramp from Hamilton Place Boulevard, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on September 16. A ramp that is open one week can close for a night the next, so checking the current report before a late trip is a sensible habit.
The construction hasn't stopped new tenants from signing on, and the two newest arrivals sit right on the roads being rebuilt.
Carhartt opened at 2115 Gunbarrel Road, Suite 11, at Hamilton Place. The company announced it on September 30 for an October 1 opening and said the store would add more than 20 local jobs. Director Mark Kastner said the company wanted to make its workwear "easily available to the workforce in southeast Tennessee." The store's page lists grand opening offers, including pocket-tee giveaways, triple points, and patch sewing, running through October 4. A food drive partnership runs through October 11.
Ford's Garage is coming to 2102 Hamilton Place Blvd., the former Abuelo's site. The Times Free Press describes it as a burger and beer chain with a 1920s service-station theme, classic Ford vehicles, and memorabilia, and reported an opening this fall. It will be the chain's first restaurant in Tennessee. The company calls it an "automotive-inspired dining experience." A Times Free Press staff photo from August 20 showed workers replacing the sidewalk in front of the building. As of this writing, the brand's location page still says "Coming Soon," and no opening day has been announced.
Both are opening on a corridor that is half rebuilt. A new restaurant on Hamilton Place Boulevard will open into the road layout being built now, with its medians, signals, and east-side sidewalks.
Hamilton Place hadn't posted a 2026 Santa arrival date or holiday hours on its official events page as of October 2. Holiday shopping trips this year will run through the same work zone listed above, so check the mall's own site before planning around an event.
The latest published target for the interchange is May 31, 2027. In January 2026, TDOT said the project was 60% complete. The 2026 work plan Local 3 published listed new bridges for the braided ramps over the Shallowford Road ramps, retaining walls, paving the new ramps, and concrete slab repairs on the I-75 mainline in both directions. In that update, Bradley said, "We just ask that folks continue to be patient with us as we work to complete these projects as quickly and as safely as possible. You know, we drive these roads every day too." We haven't found a newer completion date, so May 2027 is still the published target, not a recent confirmation.
East Brainerd's next corridor project is already in planning. In January 2026, NewsChannel 9 reported that TDOT plans to widen East Brainerd Road between east of Bel-Air Road and Ooltewah-Ringgold Road into five lanes with bike lanes and sidewalks. A county commissioner said construction was expected to start early in 2027 and take about three years, and right-of-way funding was still pending at the time. Those dates are projections. If they hold, East Brainerd Road work would start about when the Hamilton Place ramps are scheduled to finish, so new medians, driveways, and lane shifts would continue on a second corridor through roughly 2030.
The concrete median on Hamilton Place Boulevard is the clearest sign of where things are headed. Once it is installed, Taco Mamacita can be reached from the southbound side only, and that is how the restaurant's entrance will work after the cones come down.
Road projects like this change which turns you can make and which entrances work best. Over time, they also affect how convenient a street feels for daily errands. If you're thinking about what the Hamilton Place and East Brainerd Road work could mean for your street or your plans, Heather Clark is glad to talk through it with you. Let's Connect.
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