MEMPHIS, Tenn. (localmemphis.com) – There’s good news and bad news for Memphis drivers.
The good news? TDOT leaders said Tuesday construction forthe long planned and long delayed Poplar Avenue viaduct replacement is expectedto begin next year.
The bad news? Expect rerouted commutes and extra trafficduring that construction.
The Poplar Avenue viaduct is a series of bridges which goabove railroad tracks and where Union Avenue becomes Walnut Grove Road.
TDOT leaders confirmed a demolished strip mall in recentdays made room for the planned upcoming construction. Planners must alsoeventually figure out where all the traffic will go while the busy stretch ofPoplar will be closed for months at a time.
Each day, more than 40,000 drivers take their cars acrossthe Poplar Ave. viaduct, deemed by TDOT as structurally deficient and ranked inthe bottom third of being structural sound in Tennessee.
“That bridge is a nearly 100-years-old, so when you gounder that bridge, you can tell there is some major work that needs to happen,”Brandon Akins with TDOT said.
TDOT planners expect to begin that major work next year – atwo to four-year replacement project of the Poplar Avenue bridges betweenCollins and Humes.
“We will have some closures take place,” Akins said. “It isreplacing a nearly half-mile long bridge. It’s a very large structure.”
Design started on the project in 2003 but TDOT leaders saidconstruction and funding kept getting pushed back.
“We are working with three separate railroads, so there’s alot of coordination that’s had to take place,” Akins said.
Even though construction on the important Memphis corridorbrings long-term progress, there’ll also be short-term pain.
“We are looking at accelerating the job as quick aspossible, we know it’s a very important job to the local communities and anyclosures would affect them dramatically,” Akins said.
And that’s why the upcoming project made Memphis driversboth worried and relieved.
“It needs to be fixed but, I’m not quite sure, youknow, how it’s going to work for the people,” Ann Smith said.
“It’s gotta be done, we can’t say ‘don’t do it’ and continueto take those risks,” David Simmons said.
TDOT records show the project is expected to cost around $40million. Planners said construction bids are expected to go out at the end ofthe year.
State inspectors are required to inspect every Tennesseebridge once every two years.