I-55 Bridge At Memphis To Close For 9 Months In 2017

A meeting to discuss realigning and reconstructing the I-55/Crump Blvd. interchange in Memphis drew a crowd Monday afternoon in West Memphis, with area residents ticked about the closure of the I-55 Bridge in Memphis for nine months starting in 2017.

Officials with the Tennessee Department of Transportation hosted the meeting at the West Memphis Civic Center to discuss the project.

However, questions arose about the bridge closure and whether or not residents were properly notified about the idea.

Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, led the charge on the issue, saying residents were left in the dark.

“It is nice they finally got around to come here for the session,” Ingram said.

However, project manager Steve Chipman said the closure of the bridge – which links Arkansas and Tennessee – was advised by the Tennessee transportation department’s structure division, which asked for the closure.

A prior idea was to close the bridge to one lane for at least three years while work was being done, officials have said.

“They came back and said we had to close,” Chipman said of the bridge closing due to safety concerns during construction.

Ingram countered that the issue was not thought out.

“I understand their constraints but for someone to say there was no option, I don’t believe it,” Ingram said. “There was no economic impact study provided. I think they should step back and reconsider their options.”

Chipman said Tennessee highway officials found out in late 2014 about the need for the closure due to survey and soil work that was done.

Several other residents stated their disapproval of the idea, citing a lack of a hospital after the closure of Crittenden Regional Hospital last year and if an emergency on the I-40, or Hernando de Soto Bridge, caused traffic tie-ups.

PROCESS
The construction project is expected to take at least three years to complete, officials said.

In addition to realigning and reconstructing the interchange, a roundabout will be built in Tennessee linking I-55 with downtown Memphis.

The project will be done in four phases, starting in spring 2016.

During the first phase, all truck traffic will be closed on I-55 starting at Bridgeport Road near West Memphis.

The second phase in spring 2017 will involve closing the I-55 bridge.

Jim Osment, an environmental official with TDOT, said the original interchange was built in the 1960s for about 13,000 vehicles a day.

The I-55 interchange now handles 30,000 vehicles a day while the I-40 interchange handles 60,000 vehicles a day. Osment said he believes the I-40 bridge will be able to handle the increased traffic. Construction has continued on and off on I-40 between West Memphis and Memphis for the past several years. Both Chipman and Osment said no work would be done on the I-55 project until crews were done with the I-40 work.

Under a proposal presented Monday, the traffic that would normally travel on I-55 would be routed to I-40 into downtown Memphis.

From there, a motorist would have to travel on I-240 and then head south to I-55, to the area commonly known in Memphis and Northeast Arkansas as “Malfunction Junction.”

The I-55 bridge is scheduled to re-open in fall 2017, while the project is scheduled to be done by late 2018/early 2019, under the proposal released Monday.

Another meeting is set for Thursday in Memphis. Chipman said the West Memphis meeting was used to gauge feedback and another meeting in West Memphis might be possible.