Is Jackson’s Southern Bypass still a go?

JACKSON, Tenn. — Is a proposed project years in the making in Jackson/Madison County still in the works?

The Southern Bypass/US 45 Southern Bypass Extension would add nearly seven miles of road, starting near Riverside Cemetery and re-connecting with Highway 45 near the Bonwood Industrial Park.

Information on the City of Jackson’s website explains further:

This project is a joint effort between TDOT, Madison County, and the City. This project consists of four lane extension approximately 6.78 miles in length of the US 45 Bypass across the Forked Deer River generally along the Riverside Drive corridor and connecting back at US 45 / South Highland. There is also a proposed connector to SR 18 in the vicinity of Raines Springs Road. This project is currently in the design phase. The City will continue to take the lead through the design phase before handing the project to TDOT for the right-of-way and construction phases.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has hosted multiple public input meetings over the years on the Southern Bypass, including one in 2018 and one in 2022.

In January 2019, former City of Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist claimed the multi-million dollar project was a “done deal,”  stating the project had been on and off for around “30 years.”

However, as of June 2024, the Southern Bypass has yet to see the light of day.

We reached out to the City of Jackson for a status update, and a representative shared that the project is “no longer in TDOT’s three year or 10 year plan.”

We then reached out to a TDOT representative for further information, who shared the following statement:

Tennessee’s transportation needs far exceed available funding TDOT has available. There are over 600 projects across the State that were not included in this 10-Year Project Plan, ranging from road and bridge projects to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) projects. Jackson’s Southern By-Pass was one of those projects not included. TDOT concurs with local communities that these projects are good and needed projects. For projects not included in the 10-Year Project Plan to be considered for future funding, facets of the project or conditions must change. These facets include but are not limited to, the securing of additional funding or amending the scope of the project that would change its objective tiered ranking. Further, economic conditions in areas across the state may affect the planning process, causing projects to move in or out of the plan, based on available revenue.

Please refer to the Updated 10-Year Project Plan_21.pdf (tn.gov) for additional information for projects. It explains the Guiding Principles, Methodology, TDOT’s Project Prioritization Process, amongst many other informative topics.

Whether or not construction will actually commence on the project remains uncertain, but if so, it doesn’t appear it will be happening anytime soon.

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