45 Bypass closing Sunday for ongoing construction

JACKSON, Tenn. — The U.S. 45 Bypass will close Sunday.

“This weekend, we’ll be trying to finish the bridge deck over I-40, the bypass bridge deck,” Michael Welch, director of operations for TDOT in West Tennessee, said.

Welch says they have about 850 yards of concrete to pour. Contractors are also working to make sure they get the project done as quickly as possible.

“They’ll have about 50 personnel on site, be running two bridge screens, two separate operations, two pump trucks, doubling up on resources,” Welch said.

The bypass will close around 4:30 Sunday morning. I-40 will be down to one lane both East and Westbound. Traffic will then be going up and over the bypass.

“There’ll be detours, and well-signed, to get everyone to church and restaurants, everywhere they typically go on Sundays,” Welch said.

Construction could be wrapping up soon.

“The bypass interchange there, we should be wrapping up toward the end of the summer, have it functioning, then they can move on down to Highland and start that interchange work,” Welch said.

Welch says if everything goes according to plan on Sunday, this could be the last major shutdown of the bypass before it’s finished.