TDOT’s new J-turn intersection at State Route 111 and Old Sparta Road in Putnam County on track for completion by November.
Regional Communications Officer Rae Anne Bradley said maintenance crews have spent several weeks preparing the ground by upgrading drainage, shaping slopes, and stabilizing the northwest end of the project with layers of stone.
“We understand it can be inconvenient at times when folks their normal routes are interrupted due to construction, but we just ask that folks be patient with us,” Bradley said. “We are doing everything that we can to mitigate impacts to drivers during construction.”
Bradley said the stabilization work is necessary to ensure the roadway is structurally sound before the intersection is reconfigured. Bradley said crews are also conducting regular environmental and erosion control inspections to manage water flow at the site.
“Our the job of our construction crews would be much easier if we could just shut the roadway down completely and and build these projects in a vacuum,” Bradley said. “And obviously we can’t do that, right? We have to maintain traffic flow during construction.”
Bradley said construction of the new J-turn median between South Maple Avenue and Old Sparta Road is expected to begin in approximately three to four weeks. Bradley said this phase of the project will require a temporary detour and the closure of the median crossover through the end of November.
“It reduces the number of conflict points for drivers trying to navigate to the main roadway,” Bradley said. “It’s it decreases fatal and injury crash crashes, which is you know a huge a huge huge thing, cannot overstate how important that is.”
Bradley said the J-turn configuration requires drivers on minor roads to turn right onto the highway and then use a designated U-turn location in the median to go left. Bradley said this design simplifies decision-making for drivers and reduces delays during peak travel times.
“We see far too many crashes in this line of work,” Bradley said. “So anything we can do to eliminate or decrease those types of crashes we we want to do that.”
Bradley said message boards and detour signage will be used to help motorists navigate the work zone once the crossover closure begins in September.
