Signal goes up in 6 weeks, but November targeted for finish

By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
The temporary version of a new turn signal on Old Hickory Boulevard west onto I-65 South may be installed in about 6 weeks. However, work on that turn lane and at the I-65 interchange probably won't be completed until November.

The widening of the southbound off-ramp to Old Hickory Boulevard west to Brentwood has already advanced into some asphalt being placed on the bed of the new portion of the ramp. But the Tennessee Department of Transportation project won't be fully operational on the Interstate-65 exit until work on the OHB overpass is finished, spokeswoman B.J. Doughty said.

"They work together," Doughty said last week. "You’ve got to have this work on Old Hickory Boulevard before you can re-stripe that ramp and allow those new turning lanes."

The project, under contract to Highways, Inc., will cost almost $600,000, and that's without the cost of the permanent new signal added, she said.

The work, on the Metro-Davidson County border with Brentwood, actually began with concerns about backing up on the southbound interstate off-ramp westward toward Brentwood.

"We are always very,very concerned when there’s a situation where traffic is backing up on off-ramp onto the interstate, because it can create some very serious safety concerns," said Doughty, public information manager for TDOT. "... We were seeing traffic back up on a regular basis on the interstate, and start to impact interstate traffic, and so that is the reason we’re widening that ramp."

The I-65 ramp will expand from two to three lanes, with the far left lane of traffic turning left onto Franklin Road or continuing west on OHB; the middle lane for OHB west; and the far right lane intended for OHB west or to turn right onto Franklin Road northbound.

But when designers got in there to plan that ramp expansion, they encountered other concerns with the interchange that they decided to correct, Doughty added.  And Doughty says she knows first-hand of those safety issues when she lived in the area for 10 years.

"Say you’re going westbound on Old Hickory Boulevard and let’s say you wanted to go 65 South, people were cutting around to get in that left-turn lane even if the light was red," she said. "And believe it or not, there were some people doing that and not getting in that left turn lane to go 65 South -- they were basically then going around and then proceeding as to go left on Franklin Road."

While addressing those safety concerns, planners realized from in-depth traffic counts that more "storage" was needed for the left-turn on OHB to go 65 southbound.

"We decided to go ahead and get this addressed now rather than come back later and mess everything up again," Doughty said.

That roadwork on OHB, now the controlling part of the project, will affect the left-turn lanes from Old Hickory Boulevard onto I-65 in both directions.

"There's not a lot of storage as we call it for that left turn, those coming from Nippers Corner to go 65 South," Doughty said. "It’s very congested through there and backs up quite a bit. So we're going to be extending that left turn lane to add more storage.

"In order to extend that left turn lane to 65 southbound, we’re having to make some changes to the double left-turn lanes to go 65 northbound. So people are going to see the far-left left turn lane to 65 North shortened slightly to make room for the left turn lane to go southbound."

Any roadwork that involves any lane closures will continue to be done at night (8 p.m. to 5 a.m.). Other work by the contractor and by utilities that doesn't cause any inconvenience for drivers will be done during the day.

After the temporary signal is up, the paving and striping will be done by the end of the year, Doughty said. That should be done by late November, when paving season ends in Middle Tennessee, she added.

A new traffic signal can take up to six months, so the permanent signal will be switched out with the temporary one probably by early spring 2012.

Brentwood Assistant City Manager Kirk Bednar said the city hasn't had much feedback from  residents on the TDOT work on those Metro roadways.

"To the extent the extra lane and clearer signage makes this congested intersection a little safer and traffic flow a little better, then it will help people exiting I-65 and heading to Brentwood," Bednar said.

"Like any intersection modification project, it will take a little while for people to adjust to the new layout before you can really judge how effective the changes were."