[raj kapoor]

Originally Posted by Tourian

I am curious why Alabama is drawing the disdain and criticism from the audience here at C-D when work is actively being done on this end. Tennessee has not even started on their planned interchange with I-240. Why doesn't the Tennessee board have a sister thread of this type on it?

'Disdain', well describes a lot of the content on the forum. I dismiss it as the result of two things; our society is so cynical now, about everything, and the internet allows the anonymous freedom to release pent up anger, cynicism, and other delightful traits.
As it relates to the subject of I-22 and the '4 stack', it seems to me to be easier to complain and criticize than to be part of solutions. Complainers usually do nothing but that.

I read last night where someone was praising Miss. for finishing their part of I-22 years ago. This is true and Miss. does do a good job of getting roads on the ground. However no one is honest enough in their research to mention that more than half of the road had to be rebuilt to bring it up to interstate code because it was built before it became a dedicated interstate project and even after it was the design wasn't changed until later.
Alabama saved the local and national transportation depts.a good deal of money by waiting and doing it under interstate design.

My understanding from extensive reading and being familiar with the south central HWY78 area of Memphis, is that Tenn. has vacillated over when, where and how to connect I-22 to their system.
I believe that I-22 is connecting to a new freeway in Miss. that will take it to I-55 where it will head north into Memphis.

So unlike Birmingham, I-22 will not see new construction on a massive scale like we are seeing in the northern part of Birmingham. It will mostly be an overlay of existing freeways with some added lanes.

With Miss.'s record, that could mean that it will indeed be finished well before what Tenn. would have done.

Raj

[Tourian]

Also, MS didn't have to do any interchanges. Just laying out four lanes in the middle of basically flat sparse land isn't exactly very high on the difficulty meter. I am also curious if 22 will connect to an outer Memphis loop in Mississippi instead. It looks like Lamar Avenue is just too heavily congested for them to ever do anything with it then they already have.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Also, MS didn't have to do any interchanges. Just laying out four lanes in the middle of basically flat sparse land isn't exactly very high on the difficulty meter.

The four-laning of US 78 in Mississippi began in the 1970s. It was built on an all-new alignment as a limited-access highway (i.e., no at-grade intersections). I think the first towns to be bypassed were Holly Springs (old 78 went around the town square there) and New Albany. When my parents and I first drove that stretch from Tupelo to Memphis in 1979, those two towns, Sherman and Olive Branch were bypassed with the new alignment. Interestingly, the stretch through north Tupelo was also upgraded to a four-lane configuration with some interchanges possibly as early as 1970 but it was later bypassed by the current alignment across the northern part of the city in the 1980s.

[raj kapoor]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Also, MS didn't have to do any interchanges. Just laying out four lanes in the middle of basically flat sparse land isn't exactly very high on the difficulty meter. I am also curious if 22 will connect to an outer Memphis loop in Mississippi instead. It looks like Lamar Avenue is just too heavily congested for them to ever do anything with it then they already have.

Just from memory, I believe that outer loop is I-269. Right now it wears a 358 HWY designation.
But I'm a bit schnockered , so I am not going to google.
Lamar has been dropped for a while, but will receive some upgrades but not to limited access.

Good to read you,
Raj

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by raj kapoor

Just from memory, I believe that outer loop is I-269. Right now it wears a 358 HWY designation.
But I'm a bit schnockered , so I am not going to google.
Lamar has been dropped for a while, but will receive some upgrades but not to limited access.

Good to read you,
Raj

Yeah, I couldn't remember the number either. I just knew that it was:

1. A SECOND outer loop, that will exist in large part in:

2. ANOTHER STATE.

Imagine what our local 422 detractors would say if something like that were going on here? That would blow some fuses.

[DeMango]

Raj: You speak of I-22 connecting to I-55. Are they extending I-69 to I-22? Haven't been in the area since 2011 so I'm don't know if any work has begun.

[NoleFanHSV]

Curious, how long has this taken? When I moved here to Huntsville in 99, Corridor X was in progress. Obviously the interchange is going to take a long time, but it does seem like its taking a while to finish.

If I were living in Bham, I'd be more pissed at I-65. Its terrible. Potholes everywhere north and south bound.

[raj kapoor]

Originally Posted by NoleFanHSV

Curious, how long has this taken? When I moved here to Huntsville in 99, Corridor X was in progress. Obviously the interchange is going to take a long time, but it does seem like its taking a while to finish.

If I were living in Bham, I'd be more pissed at I-65. Its terrible. Potholes everywhere north and south bound.

You have a way of building a freeway while keeping it open that does not cause issues for people.

The time involved is due to the complexity of this particular interchange and of course keeping I-65 open during the work as mandated by Fed law.

There are fourteen bridges and two tunnels with an I-65 shift coming soon to allow construction on the west tunnel. Then several of those bridges have to close I-65 briefly for the placement of the steel girders. All this while increasing the lanes from eight to twelve and fourteen going through a four stack. And doing it all in just over two years. I think they have done a great job.

Hopefully you will feel better at the first of the year when it opens. But of course DT will be closing then for the rebuild/expansion of I-20/59, which includes a new layer added to the I-65 stack, and finally increasing to eight and twelve lanes to Hoover.
So you got some years to go. I went through this in San Antonio with every freeway in town and also Dallas on North Central and LBJ, so I guess I just know that it is what it is. They don't just roll them out.

I still don't see what being pissed would do.

[raj kapoor]

Originally Posted by DeMango

Raj: You speak of I-22 connecting to I-55. Are they extending I-69 to I-22? Haven't been in the area since 2011 so I'm don't know if any work has begun.

Rather than going straight into the city in a congested area, the consensus is to connect I-22 near US78 to I-269 (? number) which is a new bypass that will take I-22 to I-55 and then I-240. I-69 is being overlaid onto I-55 rather than building a new freeway through town.

The bypass is well underway and open in places. I don't know if they have determined where I-22 will culminate, but somewhere on the southside and possibly not even in Tenn., as it is not really necessary.

[jsherman9901]

Originally Posted by DeMango

Raj: You speak of I-22 connecting to I-55. Are they extending I-69 to I-22? Haven't been in the area since 2011 so I'm don't know if any work has begun.

There is something going on along US 78 just southeast of Memphis; was up that way a couple of weeks ago, and they are building multiple overpasses across the highway; could be the I-22/I-55 connector, IDK. Also, at least for a portion of the route, US 78 in northwest Alabama has already been designated I-22. I noticed the signs for the first time just a few weeks ago.