State road crews will begin work this week to stabilize a section of Signal Mountain Boulevard.
The project, located near the Signal Mountain welcome sign and Shoal Creek Road on U.S. Highway 127, will begin Tuesday from 8 p.m.-2 a.m., according to a news release from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
While setting up a work zone, crews will temporarily stop all traffic to set up concrete barriers.
Once the work zone is established, crews from GeoStabilization International will start work to make permanent repairs to an area of the roadway that has shown some signs of instability, the release states. The repairs are expected to take about eight to 10 weeks to complete. During the repairs, the road will be reduced to one lane and traffic will be controlled with a temporary signal.
During the work, loose material will be removed from the area and the slope will be stabilized using soil nailing, the release states. Soil nailing is an on-site soil reinforcement technique where soil nails are placed into the natural ground at relatively close spacing to increase the strength of the soil mass. As the bars are being drilled, grout is inserted into the hole to ensure that the soil nail stays put. A steel reinforced concrete wall will be constructed that encompasses the soil nails to form a retaining structure along with means to drain water from the slope behind the wall. The upper portion of the retaining structure will be backfilled with new material and the roadway will be rebuilt.
The work will be done using crews from GSI under a statewide on-call maintenance contract for soil nailing and slope stabilization.
Message boards will be placed at each end of the work zone notifying motorists of the one-lane condition.
Those who regularly commute in that area should anticipate drive-time delays.
For current road and traffic conditions, visit www.TNSmartWay.com/Traffic. Residents call also call 511 for more information.