News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Baxter Officials and T-DOT held the first meeting to begin preliminary planning for the $22 million Baxter Interchange Project.
City Engineer Tom Bennett said after the first meeting with T-DOT the project now has legs to it. Bennett said the Exit 280 project will affect multiple buildings around the interchange.
“As it relates to you and infrastructure there will be significant work that will be required for that project,” Bennett said. “And it is chapter 86 reimbursed which means that the state will be paying for those relocations of your facilities as part of the project.”
Bennett said T-DOT expects preliminary plans to be ready as soon as October. Council Member Jeff Herald asked Bennett how long it would take for construction to begin. Bennett said the project is too early to begin guessing when construction would start.
“I wouldn’t begin to speculate that,” Bennett said. “You know sometimes they can move quickly and sometimes not. At this phase of the project, there’s typically a fair bit of time before you start seeing construction.”
Bennett said a sketch of the project has been created and is pretty close in line with what T-DOT is proposing. Bennett said the meeting discussed how the project will affect utilities.
“That was the first meeting really as it relates to your utilities,” Bennett said. “There are a lot of impacts to your utilities.”
The project will expand the interchange up to First Avenue and south to Olan Maxwell Road. In 2023 the estimated start for construction was spring of 2026.
