Fourth, M.L. King interchanges are being affected by lane shift

Two lanes of southbound U.S. 27 from north of the Olgiati Bridge to the Interstate 24 interchange closed overnight and drivers will need to make adjustments.

Jennifer Flynn with the Tennessee Department of Transportation said the two right lanes closed at 8 p.m. Friday and will remain closed until noon today, leaving just one lane for traffic.

Flynn said the closure is part of the preparation for the next phase of the rebuilding project, when traffic will be shifted to the right and rebuilding work will take place in the middle lanes.

The biggest change is that the entry ramps to U.S. 27 from Fourth Street and M.L. King Boulevard will become southbound traffic lanes. That means drivers attempting to access U.S. 27 from the entry ramps will no longer have accelertion lanes. Instead, they will have to yield and merge into traffic.

Starting Monday and continuing through Thursday, the contractor will close the left lane of U.S. 27 South from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. to place concrete traffic barriers in preparation for Phase 2 of the project, which will see crews working in the middle lanes of U.S. 27 in each direction.

Flynn said that phase is expected to take about a year. She urged motorists to slow down and “play nice” in the traffic tangles.

“People just need to be considerate of other drivers and be alert,” Flynn said. “There’s always going to be a period of adjustment, but people get used to it and adapt.”