Lane Closures on Interstate 24 in Hamilton County
Work to take place during two weekends

Chattanooga, Tenn. – The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has started two bridge repair projects in Hamilton County that will impact travelers during the next few weeks. One project is on Spring Creek Road Bridge over I-24 at mile marker 185. The second project involves the I 24 bridge at mile marker 183 over Germantown Road. Both projects are expected to be completed in June 2006, and each project will involve periodic interstate lane closures.

The contractor for the Germantown bridge repair project had a two-week allowance on interstate lane closures to perform their work. The contractor for the Spring Creek bridge repair project had a total of eight weekends to perform their interstate work. With these specifications, there conceivably could have been ten full weekends of lane closures in this heavily congested area. Instead, at TDOT’s request, the contractors have coordinated their work forces and have scheduled extensive 24 hour-a-day operations to perform the majority of the necessary interstate work on these two projects simultaneously. Through this accelerated schedule, the construction will be done on just two adjoining weekends to minimize long-term inconvenience to the public.

Interstate lane closures for these two projects have been scheduled to begin on Friday, April 28, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. and end on Monday morning, May 1, 2006 at 5:00 a.m. EDT. Further interstate work will resume with lane closures beginning on Friday, May 5, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. and ending on Monday morning, May 8, 2006 at 5:00 a.m. EDT.

“We regret the inconvenience that these closures will mean for people who must travel through this area,” said Bob Brown, TDOT’s Region Two Director. “However, we want to get the interstate work on both of these projects accomplished as quickly as possible and do it before summer driving season begins.”

This work is anticipated to create significant traffic impacts and subsequent delays in the area of the I 24 and I-75 interchange in Chattanooga. While every effort is being made to notify the public of the impending congestion for the two entire weekends, extreme delays can be expected. Drivers are advised to avoid the area during the weekends noted above and to seek an alternate route. Should unforeseen circumstances or weather prevent any of this work from being performed, it will be rescheduled to take place as soon as possible.

A map displaying the location of the projects is attached. For more information about TDOT road construction locations, go to www.state.tn.us/tdot.

Click here for the I-24 Bridge Project Locations Map in PDF format.

I-24 Bridge Project Locations