If you travel the eastern side of I-240 around Poplar and Park, you know it’s been closed for a major bridge project and, hopefully, you know it’ll be closed for the next two weekends.
If it’s got you scratching your head, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) published a new time-lapse video to YouTube Tuesday to show you what works crews have been up to over there.
Those crews are using a technique never before used in the state to replace four bridges along I-240. They successfully used bridge slide technology to, well, slide a new bridge into place over I-240 this past weekend.
Here’s how it worked. Last summer, crews built a temporary foundation beside the old railroad bridge at Park Avenue to allow trains to move. They then tore down the old bridge and built the foundations for a brand new bridge to replace it.
That new bridge is pre-built, spanning 342 feet and weighing in at 2 million pounds. Massive jacks raised the bridge into place and, over two weekends, crews will slide its 35 feet and 3 inches into its permanent location.
“We are using bridge slide technology, which greatly reduces the time a bridge is out of service,” TDOT said in a statement. “For this heavily utilized railroad bridge, this method of construction was chosen to reduce rail and traffic disruptions and impacts.”
The bridge slide process is all apart of a larger, $54 million project called MemFix 4. It’s a bridge rehabilitation project to repair or replace four bridges that now run over I-240.
Read more about the project’s timeline here. See a detour map here.
If you’re wondering what’s in it for the nearly 138,000 motorists who pass under the bridges every day, the project will also allow crews to widen I-240 along this section of interstate.
Construction is expected to wrap up later this year.
