I-40 construction progress continues as scheduled

NORTH JACKSON, Tenn. — Despite issues like the coronavirus, bad weather and more, the Tennessee Department of Transportation says their construction projects for Jackson are still on track to be completed on time.

“This is a multiyear project. We started back in the winter of 2018, and we’ve been pushing forward, and making great progress since then,” said Nichole Lawrence, the Community Relations Coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

The projects include the Casey Jones intersection, widening the interstate, and the bridge over North Highland Avenue.

“We demolished the second phase of that I-40 bridge over Highland Avenue, now they’re doing those next steps to begin building that bridge back,” Lawrence said.

Previously, Highland Avenue was shut down while they had to redirect traffic from the interstate.

Lawrence says that in order to keep building the bridge, another short shutdown could be required.

“There will be some work behind the barrels that you really won’t notice, in the next few months. But we may have to do another shutdown to get those large steel beams across Highland Avenue,” Lawrence said.

But thanks to the work they’ve done already, they are still planning on making their original scheduled date.

“Our overall completion date is still June of 2021. The impacts on us means less traffic, and when there’s less traffic, the safety hazards there are lessened,” Lawrence said.