TDOT Updates Alcoa Highway Timeline to Accommodate Necessary Safety Reinforcement

KNOXVILLE - The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) announced that construction on the Alcoa Highway Corridor Project segment from Woodson Drive to Cherokee Trail is now expected to be completed in Spring 2030, after engineers determined during blasting and excavation near the Woodson Drive interchange that additional wall reinforcement is needed to ensure long-term stability.

To minimize impacts associated with the revised work, the Department has adjusted project phasing to ensure that construction between Cherokee Trail and the University of Tennessee Medical Center remains on schedule and is expected to be completed in Fall 2027.

"This section of the corridor is particularly complex, located between a steep rock cut and the Tennessee River," said Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Will Reid. "To ensure long-term safety and stability, the project design needed to be updated to include enhanced wall reinforcement, which necessitates additional construction time to complete the work safely and correctly."

Construction on the Woodson Drive to Cherokee Trail section started in July 2023 and remains an active worksite. The project will widen approximately 1.6 miles of roadway from four lanes to six lanes and reconstruct the Cherokee Trail/UT Medical Center interchange to improve traffic flow, accessibility, and safety.

Work is ongoing across the corridor, and two travel lanes in both directions will remain open throughout construction. TDOT continues to coordinate closely with the hospital and local partners to maintain access for emergency vehicles, employees, and patients. Motorists should expect routine traffic impacts to continue, including rolling roadblocks and other temporary traffic control measures.

"This schedule revision reflects the challenges of building through a constrained rock corridor while upholding TDOT's commitment to delivering a safe, high-quality roadway that will serve the region for decades," said Reid.

For more information on the Alcoa Highway project and to sign up for project updates, please visit: tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr115-us-129 alcoa-highway.html.