Tag: Tennessee Department of Transportation

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US Department of Transportation Allocates Millions to Memphis Intersection Improvement

Photo by Bernd đź“· Dittrich on Unsplash

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT)has allocated $13.1 million for improvements to one of the most dangerous intersections in the city of Memphis.

Last week the department announced its fiscal year 2024 (FY24) Safe Streets and Roads for All grants, which totaled $172 million, nationwide. Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced that the city would be using its funding to redesign the intersection at Lamar Avenue, Kimball Avenue and Pendleton Street.

“This complex intersection at Lamar Avenue, Kimball Avenue, and Pendleton Street has a confusing array of signals, fading and disjointed pedestrian connectivity, and little guidance on appropriate movements,” USDOT officials said.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) said this corridor faces “crippling congestion” affecting freight facilities, warehouse and distribution centers, as well. The agency applied for funding for Lamar Avenue in 2018 through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program, receiving $71.1 million for improvements.

According to USDOT, the city plans to close one of the roads at the intersection to provide a simpler design in hopes of improving safety. Other enhancements will include a public education campaign, a pilot program for a camera magnification system, and crash data analysis technology.

Another allocation was made to the MidSouth Development District for $2, 419, 870 from the FY 2024 Planning and Demonstration Grant Award to further address traffic-related injuries.through a “Comprehensive Safety action Plan.” 

USDOT officials said the grant will use data analysis, stakeholder input, and best practices to implement a plan to reduce “roadway fatalities” across the region.

“The demonstration activities will include a Safe Routes to School demonstration and EMT post-crash care training,” USDOT added.

Cohen said he was pleased to vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which has lead to the funding for these improvements.

“ I am sure that having this new investment in comprehensive safety planning will help save lives,” Cohen said in a statement.

Memphis was ranked the most dangerous metro city for pedestrians earlier this year by the nonprofit organization Smart Growth America. Their data showed that more than half of pedestrian deaths (65 percent) over the last decade happened in the last five years.

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Public Invited to Weigh In on Proposed $787M Bridge over Mississippi

Tennessee Department of Transportation

Memphis residents are invited Thursday to hear about the $787.5 million bridge proposed to replace the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, also called the I-55 Bridge or “old bridge.” 

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will host the session scheduled for Thursday from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. at the Central Station Hotel’s Amtrak Station. Another public meeting will come next week in West Memphis at the Eugene Woods Civic Center Center on April 25th, from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.

Tennessee Department of Transportation
Tennessee Department of Transportation

As those talks begin, work continues on the current I-55 Bridge and its interchange. For more than a year, crews have replaced the old cloverleaf interchange and replaced much of the bridge’s worn-out decking. 

That work began back in 2009 with public hearings at Central Station, before its conversion into a hotel and when it was still owned and operated by the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). Hearings and approvals continued until the project was sent of for bids in 2022. That project is slated for completion early next year.

The new bridge, which TDOT is calling, “America’s River Crossing,” would completely replace the old bridge, which would be demolished. Construction on the new 1.5 mile span over the Mississippi River could begin as soon as 2026 and be complete as early as 2030, according to state documents. 

“America’s River Crossing” was the name given to the idea of a new, third bridge over the river pushed by the Greater Memphis Chamber in 2021. At the time, the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge was the only bridge across the river in Memphis. The newer Hernando DeSoto Bridge was closed at the time after officials discovered a crack in the structure. 

Even though the new bridge project would still leave Memphis with only two bridges (St. Louis has 10), the Chamber appears to be on board the new project, retweeting information to Thursday’s public meeting.  

The old bridge needs replacing, officials say, because its condition and recent appraisals have “raised concerns.” The bridge is 75 years old. It does not meet current seismic standards, which could put drivers in dangers should an earthquake occur. Retrofitting the bridge could cost between $250 million to $500 million, according to a state report. 

Also, the old bridge is small. It has two, 10-foot travel lanes in each direction separated by a concrete divider, with two-foot shoulders on each side of the roadway.

”The existing I-55 bridge was not designed to handle the current or future volume of daily traffic, or truck volume, resulting in significant mobility and safety concerns,” reads the report, noting traffic counts there could be as high as 58,000 daily in 2030. “With traffic forecasts indicating substantial growth, the need for a new bridge becomes apparent, demanding increased capacity and improved traffic operations.”

The new bridge would add a new lane in each direction, for a total of six lanes, and have 12-foot shoulders on both sides of the roadway. 

The new version would increase capacity, making for smoother, safer flow of traffic and freight. For these and other reasons, the financial benefit of a new bridge could be as high as $529 million, the state said.

The old bridge has higher-than-normal rates of crashes and bottlenecks, too. The state report found the bridge crash rate was 86 percent higher than the statewide average. The bridge also  ranks in the top 10 percent of bottleneck headed south and 12 percent of bottlenecks northbound. Both are attributed to congestion. 

Tennessee Department of Transportation

A new bridge could cost up to $787.5 million. To pay for it, TDOT has request $393.7 million from the Federal Highway Adminstration. The other half would be split between TDOT and the Arkansas Department of Transportation. Tennessee’s portion would flow from dedicated funds in the Transportation Modernization Act, which included $3.3 billion for public projects. 

Find a fact sheet here. 

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Whatever Happened To: the I-55/Crump Blvd. Interchange

The interchange has been called the worst in Tennessee. (Credit: Brandon Dill)

Whatever happened to the project to fix the interchange at Crump Ave. and I-55? 

It’s back after seven years of quiet. Construction could start soon and last up to four-and-a-half years. It could close Riverside Drive southbound completely and Crump Blvd. at Third. It could close the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (the Old Bridge) for two weeks. It could cost up to $184.9 million.

The Flyer last wrote about this project in 2015 when state officials decided to pause their plan for the interchange project. The move came amidst a rising chorus of concerns from many that the project would close the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge for nine months, beginning in 2017.

Officials knew the project needed to be done. Then-Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Commissioner John Schroer called it “the worst interchange we have in the state of Tennessee.” Then-Memphis Mayor A C Wharton called it “malfunction junction.” But officials wanted it done right and hit pause.

“Over the past several weeks, we have heard from residents, business owners, elected officials, and other stakeholders in Memphis and in Arkansas, and we understand there is a significant level of concern over a full closure of the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge,” Schroer said in a statement at the time. “We want to take the opportunity to address those concerns before moving forward with construction.” 

However, TDOT continued to work on the project. Meetings to find contractors for the project began in early March this year. Bids were open on the massive project after that and closed on March 25th. 

(Credit: TDOT)

The three lowest bids on the project were from Dement Construction Co. ($184.9 million), Superior Construction Co. ($157.9 million), and Bell & Associates Construction ($141.2 million).

(Credit: TDOT/the project design from 2015)
(Credit: TDOT/ The project design from 2022)

The new plan for the interchange seems similar to the prevailing design proposed in 2015. It would replace the current cloverleaf design at Crump and I-55 with a roundabout for local traffic and a long, elevated, sweeping, flyover curve to keep I-55 traffic flowing without slowing to (or below) the current posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour.

(Credit: TDOT)

The cloverleaf design was built in the mid-1960s. It was meant to handle 28,500 vehicles daily, with 8 percent truck traffic, according to the Federal Highway Adminstration [FHWA]. In 2015, traffic averaged 60,330 vehicles daily with 26 percent trucks. By 2035, the interchange will see 84,500 vehicles per day, according to FHWA projections.

(Credit: Brandon Dill)

No firm date for construction to begin on the project is set. However, bidding documents show construction companies must complete the project within a maximum of four-and-a-half years and a minimum of two-and-a-half years. 

(Credit: TDOT)

The new plan would remove the entire south portion of the existing I-55 bridge over Metal Museum Drive and build a new one. Doing this would call for a two-week shutdown of the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, according to bid documents. The construction sequence shows the project completed over six stages. The bridge closure would come at stage 4c and reopen at the beginning of stage five. 

(Credit; Brandon Dill)

Once construction is underway, a series of alternate routes from interstates I-55, I-40, and I-240 will be implemented for traffic driving around the city. For example, those on I-55 northbound will be routed to use I-240 northbound. 

(Credit: TDOT)

The project will also involve a number of local street detours. The major detour will come as the plan calls for southbound lanes of Riverside Drive to be closed in stage two of construction and would not open until the project is complete. For this, one detour calls for Riverside traffic to be diverted to E. Carolina, to Florida, and to South Parkway. 

Crump would also be closed at Florida. For this, the state plan would reroute much of the street’s traffic to South Parkway and Third streets.    

(Credit: TDOT)

The project comes with a set of restrictions for builders. Temporary lanes closures will only be allowed between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and only eight of them can happen on weekends. Noise walls must be built at the beginning of the project and pile drivers cannot be used until they are. 

More details on the project are expected from TDOT officials later this week.  

Whatever Happened To is an occasional series that explores projects and plans that were big news when they were announced but have seemingly gone quiet. 

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Project Launched to Clean Up Polluted Tennessee River

Source: State of Tennessee

For cleaning up the polluted Tennessee River watershed, the future is now — with a new network of cutting-edge devices to remove litter, debris, oils, and more. 

Last week, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTRB), and others launched a network of electric Seabin skimmer devices to clean the water. The project will launch 18 of the skimmers, making it the largest network of such devices in the world. The project was funded with grants from TDOT and Keep America Beautiful. 

“Until now, all of our work has only been able to prevent microplastics in our waterways, so we are thrilled to be making an effort to actually mitigate microplastics out of the water,” said Kathleen Gibi, KTRB executive director. “We’re grateful to TDOT and Keep America Beautiful for these — as I see it — revolutionary grants and to our partners who will be maintaining the Seabins to make this trailblazing project possible.”

The Tennessee River starts in Knoxville, flows south through Chattanooga, dips into Alabama, back up through West Tennessee, and into Kentucky. The clean-up network stretches across the watershed with devices located in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama. 

Source: Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful

Here’s how KTRB described the skimmers: “The Seabin device, a product out of Australia, works 24/7 to collect marine debris from the surface of the water, much like a pool skimmer that’s electrically operated. 

“Each device can remove up to 3,000 [pounds] of marine debris a year, meaning that the 18 devices installed along the Tennessee River watershed will have the potential of removing up to 54,000 [pounds] a year. Even more than that, the devices will also filter out gasoline, oils, and microplastics from the water.”

In 2017, researchers called the Tennessee River “one of the most plastic-polluted rivers ever recorded in the world.” That year, scientist and endurance swimmer Dr. Andreas Fath swam the nearly 652-mile length of the river with sampling devices connected to his body. His results showed the Tennessee contained 16,000 cubic feet of micro plastics per cubic meter of water, nearly twice as much as China’s polluted Yangtze River, and 8,000 percent higher than levels found in the Rhine River.      

Microplastics include plastic bottles, shopping bags, styrofoam, straws, and more. Some of these items remain intact. Others disintegrate into smaller particles that remain in the water, threatening fish and drinking water. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said nearly 70 percent of the trash found in rivers comes from inland sources, like litter left on streets that flows into storm drains, which flow into rivers. This is why TDOT said it got involved in the new Seabin clean-up system. 

“TDOT’s partnership with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful demonstrates the link between roadside litter and debris that ends up in our waterways,” said TDOT Commissioner Joseph Galbato. “Investing in this substantial network of litter removal devices is another example of how TDOT promotes innovative solutions to making our state cleaner and keeping our waterways clear.”

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Hernando De Soto Bridge To Reopen Next Week

Credit: TDOT

The Hernando De Soto Bridge will partially reopen next week, officials with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) announced Wednesday. 

Eastbound lanes of the bridge will open Monday at 6 a.m. Westbound lanes will open Friday at a time not yet determined. This schedule could change with any complications that arise. TDOT will update the plan on Friday.

TDOT said contractors will have completed all the phase three plating by Friday. They will begin to demobilize, break down platforms, remove equipment, and barriers starting with the eastbound direction. Doing this one side at a time is safest for workers.

 However, the bridge will remain an active work zone, TDOT said, and they ask drivers motorists to pay attention to all signs on the bridge. 

…our team made the repairs and performed extensive inspections to ensure it’s structurally sound for many years to come.

TDOT Commissioner Clay Bright

TDOT Commissioner Clay Bright said when TDOT closed the bridge in May, “we did not know then what all would be involved” but the team “worked tirelessly to safely reopen the bridge as soon as possible.”

“We know having the bridge closed has been incredibly inconvenient,” said TDOT Commissioner Clay Bright. “We appreciate the public’s patience while our team made the repairs and performed extensive inspections to ensure it’s structurally sound for many years to come.”

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TDOT Animation Shows Bridge Repair Steps

Credit: Tennessee Department of Transportation

The Tennessee Department of Transportation shared a short video Monday showing exactly how the Hernando DeSoto Bridge will be repaired.

Officials have still not given a firm timeline for completion of the repairs but said the work could last through July.

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Partnership Formed to Combat PPE Waste

The Tennessee Department of Transportation, Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation, and Keep Tennessee Beautiful announced a three-way partnership on Tuesday, August 18th. The partnership aims to reduce personal protective equipment litter and educate the public on proper PPE and single-use mask disposal.

“This partnership is a response to a rise in PPE litter, which TDOT has begun to notice on rights-of-way, and how we, as state agencies, can work together to share one impactful message,” TDOT Commissioner Clay Bright said.

TDOT Commissioner Clay Bright

Through the partnership, the groups will release a series of posts highlighting proper PPE disposal. Posts and additional messaging will be shared electronically by all three entities and made available through KTnB and their statewide network of affiliates. Proper PPE disposal has also been worked into TDOT’s “Nobody Trashes Tennessee” litter prevention campaign.

All social media posts will center around three main points:

  • Single-use masks, gloves, and wipes should not be placed into any recycling containers or disposed of on the ground. Improper disposal creates health and environmental hazards.
  • All PPE should be properly disposed of in a trash receptacle.
  • Wearing a reusable or cloth mask instead of single-use masks can reduce the amount of PPE waste going to landfills and help fight the spread of COVID-19.

“In these unusual times, unusual problems arise, and the litter of personal protective equipment is an example,” TDEC Commissioner David Salyers said. “We encourage all Tennesseans to be mindful of this issue and maintain their commitment to the beauty of our state. We are grateful to TDOT and Keep Tennessee Beautiful for their partnership in this effort.”

TDOT spends $15 million annually on litter pickup and prevention education. Through its efforts, the amount of roadside litter has decreased by 43 percent since 2006. Despite this, nearly 100 million pieces of litter occur on Tennessee roadsides at any given time.

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Lee Firms Up Previous Order, Makes ‘Stay-at-Home’ Mandatory

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Thursday he would sign Executive Order 23 requiring that Tennesseans “not carrying out essential activities” must stay at home as data shows an increase in citizen movement across the state.

Until now, the Governor had resisted mounting pressure to issue such an order, having previously contented himself with “urging” Tennesseans to stay close to home.

In his statement Thursday, Lee said, “Over the last few weeks, we have seen decreases in movement around the state as Tennesseans socially distance and stay at home. However, in recent days we have seen data indicating that movement may be increasing and we must get these numbers trending back down. I have updated my previous executive order to clearly require that Tennesseans stay at home unless they are carrying out essential activities.”

The press release containing the new order cited data from the Tennessee Department of Transportation regarding traffic patterns for March 2020. “While safer at home measures and further restrictions on businesses showed a steep drop-off in vehicle movement from March 13-29, data beginning on March 30 indicates travel is trending upwards, again.”

Analysis of cell phone mobility and other “movement trends” in the population, “trending toward pre-COVID-19 levels,” figured into his reasoning, Lee said.

The new executive order will remain in effect until April 14, 2020 at midnight. 

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MATA to Expand Bus Service to Employment Centers, Improve Customer Service

Some of MATA’s CMAQ funds will go toward improvements at Central Station.

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) plans to use five grants totaling $4.7 million from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to expand bus service to employment centers and to improve customer experiences.

The funds were awarded through TDOT’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program, which although administered by TDOT, is funded through the federal government.

Here’s how the money will be used:
* Public infrastructure improvements at Central Station, including a new trolley station, a transit connector concourse, and other pedestrian and bike-friendly streetscape improvements.

* A new bus route called the Wolfchase Connector that connect employers in the Appling Farms area and educational institutions such as Southwest Tennessee Community College with Shelby Farms and retailers in the Wolfchase Mall area

* A new express bus service connecting downtown with the American Way Transit Center, Greyhound intercity buses, and major employers near the airport.

* A new route called the Getwell Connector connecting multi-family residences and major employers in southeast Memphis.

* A new route called the Airport Shuttle Express that will provide direct express service between the Airways Transit Center, American Way Transit Center, and Memphis International Airport.

The CMAQ funds will cover 80 percent of the cost of these planned projects, while the other 20 percent (about $1.9 million) will be matched by the city of Memphis.

“These funds are a significant opportunity for us to get people in the inner city to jobs out east and around the airport area,” Mayor A C Wharton said. “It’s a good step in the right direction towards lowering the cost of living for the poor and providing access to greater opportunities for employment. I am pleased that MATA is doing what it can to expand services where they can have a major impact.”

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Roundabout to a Dead End

Last Friday, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) announced that it would delay its planned closure of the I-55 “Old Bridge” over the Mississippi River for at least a year while it conducted “further studies” on the economic impact of the project.

“Over the past several weeks, we have heard from residents, business owners, elected officials, and other stakeholders in Memphis and in Arkansas, and we understand there is a significant level of concern over a full closure of the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge,” TDOT Commissioner John Schroer said. “We want to take the opportunity to address those concerns before moving forward with construction.” In other words, back to the drawing board.

I don’t want to say there were a couple high-fives given in the Flyer office, but we were pretty pleased that our efforts to raise civic consciousness on this ill-advised plan bore some fruit. Reporter Toby Sells covered the project extensively, and we vigorously editorialized against it. The Commercial Appeal, on the other hand, editorialized in support of the closure project and ran a couple of soft, pro-TDOT articles.

Mayor A C Wharton was also seemingly clueless about the project’s potential to devastate the local economy, offering tepid, boilerplate support for TDOT’s bridge closure plan.

Whoever the next mayor is, whether it’s Wharton or one of the candidates running against him, it’s essential that he get actively involved in helping to ensure that this TDOT project has as small a negative impact as possible on our tourism business, our transportation and distribution industry, and the booming Bass Pro Pyramid. Memphis business and political leaders need to be proactive and not let Nashville bureaucrats determine our future. They need to join with officials on the Arkansas side — who should get most of the credit for stopping the closure plan — and begin working with TDOT to craft the least painful alternative.

To that end, easy access to downtown (and Bass Pro) via northbound I-55 to Riverside is critical. That means the proposed “roundabout” also has to be off the table. Replacing a free-flowing four-lane entrance to (and exit from) the city with an intersection that forces all north-south traffic to interact with Crump Boulevard traffic heading onto and off the bridge is not progress.

But for now, we’re content to enjoy a victorious first step — stopping what TDOT officials said less than a month ago was the absolute “final plan.” No further changes were possible, they said. In response to which, I’m happy to quote Arkansas state Senator Keith Ingram, who said, prophetically: “TDOT probably didn’t think the Overton Park expressway was going to be stopped, either.”