James White Parkway Will Be Closed For First UT Home Game (Tri-Cities advisory)

Knoxville, TN. – The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) would like to remind football fans traveling from northeast Tennessee to the University of Tennessee football game against Southern Mississippi on Saturday, September 8, that James White Parkway (JWP) is closed for reconstruction. Fans traveling to the game are encouraged to allow extra time getting in and out of the downtown Knoxville area. UT home games normally attract more than 100,000 fans.

The most direct route for those motorists traveling from the northeast Tennessee area is to exit I-40 west bound onto the new Hall of Fame Drive (exit 389) to get to the stadium. Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) provides convenient shuttle service to the stadium from the Knoxville Coliseum parking garages adjacent to Hall of Fame Drive.

There are several other routes from the Tri-cities area motorists can take into downtown Knoxville. Westbound motorists on I-40 can also take Exit 387B (17th Street) or Exit 386B (Alcoa Highway/US129) to Cumberland Avenue or Neyland Drive, to get to campus and downtown.

JWP has been closed since December 2006 for the demolition and reconstruction of several ramps, bridges and roadways as part of the continuing SmartFIX 40 project. The parkway is expected to reopen by the end of September.

SmartFIX40 is an accelerated construction process involving the complete closure of a primary roadway to allow around-the-clock work that is uninterrupted by traffic in order to dramatically shorten construction time, thereby reducing the long-term inconvenience to motorists.

During the SmartFIX40 project, I-40 traffic through Knoxville will be rerouted onto I-640 for 14 months beginning in the spring of 2008. Local traffic will have access to downtown at all times during this closure. The closure of I-40 will avoid more than two years of traffic delays, lane closures and other frustrations by allowing construction crews to work on roadways and bridges without traffic.