Project Description
I-640 Widening
Knox County, Tennessee
If you have ever vacationed at the beach and traveled through Knoxville via I-40, then you have traveled this stretch of I-640. The widening of I-640 was the last – and most complex — piece of the east/west interstate corridor through Knoxville.
Notable features of the project included:
- Upgrading I-640 to current AASHTO standards.
- Complex traffic control plans to maintain 2 lanes of traffic in each direction at all times.
- Extensive coordination with FHWA and the City of Knoxville.
- 2 overpass and 2 underpass bridges.
- Development of paving strategy with TDOT staff (ultimately a 6 ¾ ” +/- asphalt overlay of existing concrete was chosen).
The project widened I-640 to six lanes from four. I-640 now has a 22-feet median with barrier, six 12-feet traffic lanes and 12-feet outside shoulders (widening of I-640 was contained inside the existing right of way with retaining walls). Construction cost was $17,000,000.
We were able to place the retaining walls on the north side so that a side road would remain.
We replaced an existing bridge over which required a phased maintenance of traffic plan between the existing bridge and new bridge. We were able to fit the new road under another existing bridge (The Hague) without replacing it.
We were able to jack up the existing interstate bridges over Old Broadway and Broadway to the new grade. As a result, we saved the unnecessary costs of replacing them.
The TDOT project manager relayed to us at the final review that the MOT plans we developed were the best he’d ever seen.
Region 3 Design
1200 James K. Polk Bldg
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0340