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Interstate, rail coordination causes delay on split project

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / A construction worker uses a power tool Nov. 20, 2024, under the Interstate 75 bridge over the CSX Railroad. Coordination of rail and interstate traffic while a new interstate bridge over the railroad is being built has led to a delay on the project. The length of the delay is not yet known. Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / A construction worker uses a power tool Nov. 20, 2024, under the Interstate 75 bridge over the CSX Railroad. Coordination of rail and interstate traffic while a new interstate bridge over the railroad is being built has led to a delay on the project. The length of the delay is not yet known.

By Ben Benton May 6, 2025 4 min read

The need to keep traffic flowing on both Interstate 75 and the CSX railway underneath it put the two modes of transportation on a collision course, causing a delay on the $161 million I-75/Interstate 24 interchange project at the Tennessee-Georgia line.

“The contractor experienced delays in gaining access to work on the railroad’s right-of-way for construction of the new bridge on I-75,” Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesperson Rae Anne Bradley said in an email. “These two different modes of transportation – the interstate and the railroad – are both incredibly important. Keeping trains on the track and cars on the road while executing a major road construction project requires extensive coordination and comes with its own set of unique and complex challenges.”

Agency officials said the project is still on budget, but there was no word on when the I-75 half of the project would be complete. Charleston, Tennessee-based Wright Brothers Construction Co. is the project contractor.

On Friday, the agency said the I-24 half of the project was on track for its original late-2025 completion date.