The Power of Regional Transformation

As growth impacts our communities, preserving what we love takes a little transformation—and it starts with you.

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Article adapted from a presentation by Bridgett Massengill, Thrive’s President/CEO, to the Chattanooga Rotary Club on April 3, 2025.

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Do you remember the first time you felt pride in this region? Maybe it was when you had a visitor come who had never seen Chattanooga before. Where did you take them? What sights could they just not miss while here?

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Community pride like that is hard-won. It is the result of transformation. Not necessarily a transformation or change of a place itself, rather, change within ourselves, as residents, as companies, to be stewards of the best version of our home communities.

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Consider the work that has already been done right here in Chattanooga and the surrounding region.  Many of you in this room were likely a critical part of Chattanooga’s transformation from the “dirtiest city in America” to North America’s first National Park City. 

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Transformations like that  do not happen by chance, and they do not happen overnight. 

Transformations like that take time. Dedication. Vision.

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Transformations like that result in your sense of pride for this region, truly unmatched in many other places where people live. 

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The work of transformation is powered by us, as the region’s residents and leaders. You and me.

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Transformation begins with voices across the region 

In this video, you heard Lisa Dotson from McMinn County embrace the power of  “conversation, connection, and collaboration.”

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You heard that residents are “committed to building a legacy for future generations.” 

You heard Brittany Pittman from Murray County say, “we ask tough questions about the environment, infrastructure and economic prosperity.”

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Transformation begins with seeking to understand your assets and addressing the tough challenges. 

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Understanding the region’s assets

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A place for life

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Here we sit, in the Cradle of the Appalachian Mountains, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Tennessee Valley. We live in a biodiversity hotspot with abundant species of plant and animal life that call our region home. 

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This richness of life is matched only by the strength of our economy. 

A high-performing economy

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Let’s look at regional growth in terms of the economy. According to the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), in 2013, the Chattanooga Metropolitan Area’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was approximately $27.2 billion. By 2023, this figure had risen to about $34.1 billion - an increase of nearly 25%.

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Why does this matter? GDP speaks volumes to what is being produced here in this region, what people are spending their dollars on, and what local investments are being made. A strong and growing GDP is proof of our stable economic position.

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If this figure was stagnant or in decline, we would be having a very different conversation today. Instead, with a 25% increase over 10 of the years Thrive has been in existence is a sign of a region experiencing accelerated growth. A driving force behind the region’s high-performing economy is the surging manufacturing sector. 

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According to our partners at the Greater Chattanooga Economic Partnership, over $14 billion in industry investments have been made here since 2008. Additionally, the biggest portion of our jobs in this robust economy are split evenly between Transportation (20%) and Manufacturing (20%) Sectors making up 40% total of jobs in our region.

A hub for commerce and logistics

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With a population of nearly 1,115,000 people (9.14% increase since 2013), residents and their employers throughout all of our 16 counties rely heavily on three interstate highways— I-75, I-24, and I-59— for travel and commerce.

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These infrastructure corridors are critical to the nation’s supply chain. The central location of greater Chattanooga has positioned the tri-state as a logistical powerhouse, handling the flow of commerce not only to and from our local industries, but across the southeast and beyond.

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Within a day’s drive of more than half of the U.S. population, the greater Chattanooga region is an ideal location for distribution centers and logistics operations. 

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Coming out of the pandemic, in 2023, Inc. Magazine included 20 Chattanooga companies on its list of the 5,000 U.S. businesses with the fastest rate of revenue growth in the preceding 3 years. Among the Chattanooga-based companies on that list, 70% were either logistics companies or business servicing the trucking industry.

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The roster of logistics companies headquartered in Chattanooga is impressive, from some of the nation’s longstanding logistics companies such as Covenant Logistics and U.S. Xpress, as well as growing companies like Arrive Logistics, Tranco, Steam Logistics, and many more.  All of these powerhouses contribute to our reputation as a logistics hub and “Silicon Valley of Freight”.

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Addressing the tough challenges

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Population and housing costs

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With economic growth comes realities such as increased housing costs. In recent years, the median home sale prices in many parts of the region have skyrocketed, according to the Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors.

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Hamilton County, particularly the areas of Collegedale and nearby Apison, has experienced a dramatic climb: the median home price in my own town of Collegedale rose from $219,000 in 2012 to $455,000 in 2023, while home prices in neighboring Apison now reach $550,000.

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Reports from GCAR indicate that rising housing cost trends echo across the region, a testament to the area’s draw as people seek vibrant, small town communities and stunning natural settings with outdoor recreation opportunities.

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Population growth also adds pressure and traffic to our local roadways. Average commute times in the region have increased from 21.9 minutes in 2012 to 24.1 minutes in the most recent census data.

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A “tsunami of freight”

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When Thrive began as a first-of-its-kind regional planning initiative back in 2012, we began taking note of the freight congestion, noting that we had the highest volume of freight “through traffic” than any metro in the U.S. 

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We sought to understand where the freight was coming from, which then led to an understanding of global supply chain developments such as the Panama Canal expansion, and the dredging of the Savannah Port, all of which would prompt a greater influx of freight that would end up right here, on our crossroads in greater Chattanooga. 

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We put out a wake up call to the region. I remember us calling this projection a “tsunami of freight” heading our way.

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In our research in 2013, the Freight Analysis Framework data by the U.S. Department of Transportation projected 33 million tons of freight would pass through Chattanooga along I-24 by 2035. But, more recent data shows that 39 million tons of freight were transported through the region in 2022, 13 years ahead of the projection. By 2050, the forecast is now a striking 63 million tons (one way along I-24).

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Currently, two critical interchanges on I-75 and I-24 are still pinpointed on the Top 100 Bottlenecks list by the American Transportation Research Institute.Additionally, barge traffic through the Chickamauga Lock has increased from 994,000 tons in 2013 to 1.7 million tons today. 

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‍Yes, freight moves our economy, and a surging economy, even to some of our biggest employers, brings challenges worth discussing, such as the cost of freight congestion outlined in this interactive StoryMap.

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Risking our natural resources

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When I talk to friends and colleagues from outside the area, they often mention our traffic issues. But honestly, despite the traffic, this region is so beautiful and worth visiting. I hope the traffic reputation doesn’t stop anyone from enjoying all the great things our region has to offer. Ralph Tentler, Director of Transportation Operations for Shaw Industries

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As Ralph Tentler describes, the natural beauty of the landscape occupies a very important place in the hearts of those who live here, and it is also a critical feature of healthy, resilient communities.

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Yet, our beautiful and productive landscape also feels the pressure of development. Projections from the American Farmland Trust estimate a loss of over 150,000 acres of farmland by 2040. We have already lost 7,900 acres of farmland since 2017.

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Our landscapes are more than agriculturally productive. Simply by existing, the forests and waterways of the region help local communities literally “weather the storm,” by limiting the disastrous impacts of hazardous weather events that increasingly occur. Severe weather events between 2014 and 2024 have caused $38 million in property damage, with the tragic toll of 33 lives lost and 102 injuries.

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Tools for transformation

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In the midst of this rapid growth, Thrive Regional Partnership has been quietly emerging over the past 12 years as a critical resource hub to support local communities navigate accelerated growth by understanding their assets and addressing tough challenges.

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Here in the corner of three states, there are 76 municipalities of all sizes, three metropolitan planning organizations, three rural planning agencies, and three state governments with varying departments of essential services for the continued stewardship of our region’s most critical built and natural assets.

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As residents, business-owners, and leaders, we all desire economic prosperity and the preservation of quality of life in our home communities. But few communities have the connections across sectors, county lines, state lines, and various levels of government to make inspired growth decisions. We do. Thrive is the framework that continually builds trust, relationships, and sources data for local leaders in the tri-state.

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Building a Regional Resource Hub

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Our team at Thrive works every day to ensure that the organization remains a steady, unbiased force offering data, insight, and inspiration to help communities across the region grow responsibly and sustainably.

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Over the past 12 years, we have carefully cultivated a regional framework, empowering local leaders with tools and data they otherwise would not have to make informed, visionary decisions. We provide resources such as:

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TRIP: Thrive Regional Infrastructure Portal

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TRIP (Thrive Regional Infrastructure Portal) is a publicly sourced data platform that we built with partners at Georgia Tech. TRIP integrates information from across our three states that are critical corridors of the southeastern supply chain network. 

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This tool is here to help answer crucial questions: What routes are heavily trafficked by trucks? Where do rail lines intersect with key roads, potentially creating bottlenecks or hazards? What commodities are moving across these pathways, and where have accidents occurred - and why? 

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Our team provides technical support for TRIP research and even curriculum development. In a recent collaboration, Cleveland State Community College has integrated TRIP into a supply chain curriculum to educate the region’s emerging workforce.

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Cradle of Southern Appalachia Conservation Blueprint

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Complementing the hard infrastructure data found in TRIP, the Cradle of Southern Appalachia conservation blueprint unites conservationists, planners, and developers around a shared vision that balances economic growth with the preservation of the region’s natural landscapes. 

With only 15% of our land protected, Thrive encourages thoughtful stewardship of our natural treasures by private property owners and local leaders alike. Planning must occur with the public sector, private industry, and conservationists at the table. 

Thrive Regional Resource Hub

We’re taking these tools to new heights with the Thrive Regional Resource Hub. Thanks in part to the Appalachian Regional Commission’s ARISE program, we’re deepening our impact by building local capacity to use these tools, expanding workforce development opportunities, and delivering regional data to inform decision-makers.

Transformation happens when we work together

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At the crossroads of natural beauty and robust economic opportunity, the Chattanooga tri-state region stands as a testament to the vision set forth by its residents: educated people with good jobs living in a great place.

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Communities across the tri-state are hard at work cultivating this vision, demonstrating that we will not allow change to happen to us, but instead, by us. If change truly happens by us, then we— you and me— create the problems we see in the region, and we are the people who can address these challenges together. 

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In Thrive Regional Partnership, the scalable framework to power this vision has been built. Relationships, a trusted data-source, and a convening table are the keystones of regional collaboration— and we will continue to host thoughtful dialogue about the very things that matter right here at home.

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We like to say that progress moves at the speed of trust, but trust is built only by relationships. Simply by building relationships and caring about this region, you are the foundation for advancing regional collaboration. It all starts with you. It always has. It always will.