Saturday, December 30, 2006

Transportation Project I-40/Canada Road Interchange

From 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 11, 2007, the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce will host top Tennessee Department of Transportation, Shelby County and City of Lakeland officials at the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce “Kick Off” meeting.

To provide background information on possible projects that may be discussed, I am writing this series on transportation projects underway, planned, anticipated or even rumored! The State and County officials will have the latest available information. Many levels of approvals are involved in each project. A project could have the City, Shelby County, metro planning organization, state and federal government involved in just that one project, so the process is complicated and can take time.

I will also include latest information (and to the best of my knonwledge) on the status of the project and what agency needs to make a decison before the next step in the project process.

The I-40/Canada Road Interchange effort has been underway for some time. Currently the project is in the design stage.

The final plan of the proposed interchange project is still under review although we expect an answer in the very near future. Either a “diamond” interchange (similar to the Appling/I-40 interchange) or a “single point” (similar to the Germantown Road/Walnut Creek interchange except that the light would be on top rather than on the bottom) is planned.

The City is requesting that the State include funds for right-of-way acquisition in the next fiscal year budget with funds for actual construction in the next fiscal year budget. Anticipated completion, at the very earliest, is 2009.

STATUS: Waiting on Tennessee Department of Transportation to make the decision of whether the Interchange is to be a "diamond interchange" or a "single point" interchange.

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