Road work at Interstate 24 bridge over Germantown Road will be loud and force lane closures

Staff photo by Tim Barber/ An eastbound truck passes over Germantown Road Monday, Apr. 20, 2020, on one of the two bridges intersecting Interstate 24, east of Missionary Ridge.A $32.9-million project to replace the Belvoir Avenue and Germantown Road bridges crossing Interstate 24, is beginning Apr. 20, 2020, with the closure of the Belvoir bridge.
Staff photo by Tim Barber/ An eastbound truck passes over Germantown Road Monday, Apr. 20, 2020, on one of the two bridges intersecting Interstate 24, east of Missionary Ridge.A $32.9-million project to replace the Belvoir Avenue and Germantown Road bridges crossing Interstate 24, is beginning Apr. 20, 2020, with the closure of the Belvoir bridge.

The contractor on the bridge replacement project on Interstate 24 over Germantown Road will begin pile driving operations Wednesday night that will be noisy and force lane closures till the end of June, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Because of the reduction of traffic flow to one lane, officials said the work will be done at night between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., when traffic volume is the least, TDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Flynn said in a news release.

Of course, that's also when most people sleep.

"Pile driving, in this case, will involve the use of specialized machinery to hammer steel or concrete supports into the ground to form the foundation for the future bridges on this project," Flynn said in the release. "Driving piles is typically the loudest operation on a construction project with a repetitive steel-on-steel impact, so residents near the work zone will likely experience noise and disturbance while the piles are driven."

Nighttime pile driving operations will continue on a regular basis through the end of next month, although testing, preparation and weather may interrupt the work. Depending on how the pile driving operations progress, intermittent nighttime pile driving operations could be possible at this location until the beginning of August, Flynn said.

The work at the interstate overpass at Germantown Road is part of a larger, $32.9 million project to replace that bridge and the one over I-24 near mile marker 183 on Belvoir Avenue, Flynn said. The two projects will be closely coordinated, TDOT officials said.

The bridge replacement project is adjacent to the ongoing $132.6 million interchange improvement project at I-24 and Interstate 75, less than a mile to the east.

The construction manager on the bridge replacement project is Bell & Associates Construction and the design manager is Barge Design Solutions.

In spring 2021, the I-24 bridges over Germantown will be closed over four weekends - one direction of travel at a time - to complete the bridge replacement work, according to TDOT.

When closed for work, northbound Germantown Road traffic will take South Terrace to Belvoir Avenue to Lerch Street and back to Germantown. Traffic headed south will take Lerch Street to Belvoir to Fountain Avenue and back to Germantown. The work at Belvoir, which will be completed first, will require a smaller detour using North Terrace and South Terrace to make loops with Moore and Germantown roads at each end.

For more information on the I-24 bridge replacement project, visit TDOT's project website. Flynn noted the project website also has a process for members of the public to sign up for project updates, including lane closure information.

Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.

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