TDOT’s biggest-ever job to open in June

05/20/2009

By Candy McCampbell

Interstate 40 in Knoxville will reopen 18 days ahead of schedule in mid-June, giving drivers a through shot instead of diverting them to the I-640 bypass as it has for the past 13 months.

The early completion means a $7 million bonus for the joint-venture contractors, Bell & Associates Construction LP of Brentwood, Tenn., and Blaylock & Sons Inc. of Sevierville, Tenn., says Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesman Travis Brickey.

The multi-phase project, which started in July 2005, rings up at $190 million and is the biggest interstate improvement job ever let by the TDOT.

Bell & Associates had the first part, at $85 million, and the Bell-Blaylock joint venture scored the second part, at $105 million.

TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely called the early completion “a major milestone” for TDOT, the city and everyone who has worked on the project.

Called SmartFix40, it allowed the interstate closing so crews could have unlimited, around-the-clock access to the roadway. By diverting the more than 100,000 vehicles that drive through the area daily, the shutdown has cut 2 ½ to 3 years off the construction timetable, Nicely says.

The project included closing about 1.5 miles of I-40 near Knoxville’s downtown, demolishing the existing roadway and relocating part of the westbound lanes to widen the highway from two lanes to at least three in each direction, as well as constructing some additional lanes.

Crews have built nine bridges, seven new ramps, 14 retaining walls and three noise walls, and demolished two other bridges.

They also have repaved or otherwise improved 12 city streets.

Still under way is paving, bridge painting, guardrail installation and lighting before I-40 re-opens, Paul Degges, TDOT chief engineer, says in a news release.

The contract completion date is June 30 but the contractors will have an additional 45 days to restore the I-40 interchanges at I-640 and I-275 where they turned two-lane roads into three lanes. Those will be re-configured and re-striped.

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