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The Tennessee Department of Transportation has no clear idea of how the planned closure of a stretch of I-40 in downtown Knoxville will affect traffic on Alcoa Highway, but it does have some advice for drivers.

Beginning May 1, the segment of I-40 between James White Parkway, Exit 388A, and Hall of Fame Drive, Exit 389, will be closed for 14 months of construction and repair. Traffic that normally passes through downtown on I-40 will use I-640 or I-275 to bypass the closure. Local eastbound traffic will continue to use James White Parkway and local westbound traffic will continue to use Hall of Fame Drive to access the downtown area, the South Knoxville Bridge and Neyland Drive.

There is one aspect of the construction of which Alcoa Highway drivers need to be aware, said Travis Brickey, TDOT community relations officer said.

Where currently the northbound I-40 ramp from Alcoa Highway has its own exclusive lane, TDOT will be modifying the traffic flow so that drivers from Alcoa Highway will have to merge into the lane with the increased traffic bound for I-275.

“We’re discouraging folks who come all the way up to take either the Henley Street or James White Parkway exits (to access downtown),” Brickey said “We want them to take Neyland or Cumberland or 17th Street instead of having to weave into that I-75 northbound traffic and local I-40 eastbound traffic. I-640 will be carrying detoured traffic. If they can take one of those other exits, that will be better and safer.”

Whether the closure will have a larger effect on traffic patterns on Alcoa Highway, Brickey just doesn’t know yet.

“There is no way to know that,” Brickey said. “It’s really the through movement traffic it will affect. You have to assume that local folks will find ways they like to do it best.”
Brickey said that of the 103,000 cars that travel that section per day, only 30,000 continue traveling east or west on the interstate.

“We did an extensive origin and destination study prior to the decision to close the Interstate,” he said. “The breakout was ... 30 percent is through traffic, about 30,000. The 70 percent, about 70,000 vehicles per day, kind of disappear somewhere in the downtown area or Alcoa Highway or I-275.”