New lanes of U.S. Highway 27 are soon to open.Map
U.S. Highway 27 project area
There's good news and bad news for northbound commuters on U.S. Highway 27.
Traffic through the work area north of the Olgiati Bridge will shift to the newly constructed lanes starting Tuesday morning.
But drivers traveling beyond the Signal Mountain Road exit will have to thread through a single lane of traffic for about three weeks, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said in a news release.
TDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Flynn said in the release that the contractor will open the new lanes between 7 p.m. today and 6 a.m. Tuesday. She said not all the available lanes will be opened, but "the new alignment should make it easier for motorists to negotiate their way through the project."
And while much work remains to be done, she said, "this new traffic pattern will allow the contractors access to other areas of the project that are not yet completed."
In the north end of the project area, traffic must be restricted to a single lane past the Signal Mountain Road exit to allow the contractor to complete work on the median barrier wall, Flynn said.
"The section of U.S. 27 North that will be reduced to one lane will be relatively short, and it will only affect motorists going northbound toward Hixson and Soddy-Daisy," Flynn said.
The $106 million project began in 2012 and is estimated to be complete in February.
The completed project will have six new bridges and 33 retaining walls, three lanes in each direction, and added ramp acceleration and deceleration lanes.