SOUTHERN SWING
Section of I-269 from Collierville to Mississippi state line to open Friday
The first leg of a nearly 30-mile, $700 million-plus freeway loop around the southern perimeter of Memphis will be opened to traffic Friday afternoon, Tennessee transportation officials announced Monday.
Grand-opening ceremonies for the 4.5-mile segment of Interstate 269 between Tenn. 385 in Collierville and Miss. 302 near Byhalia, in Marshall County, are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the Tennessee-Mississippi line. Transportation officials from both states are expected to attend, said Nichole Lawrence, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
The project cost $53.8 million, including $42.5 million for the 2.5-mile portion in Tennessee. It will be part of the local bypass around Memphis along the planned Interstate 69 route from Canada to Mexico.
The entire I-269 project will form a nearly 60-mile horseshoe from Millington to Hernando, Mississippi. The northern portion — from Millington to Collierville — has been finished, although it remains designated Tenn. 385 pending completion of other components of the loop.
The segment slated to be opened Friday will be the first to carry traffic along the southern I-269 loop extending south from Collierville to near Byhalia, then swinging westward to Hernando, where it will connect with I-55/69.
In all, there are eight I-269 segments in Mississippi that are expected to cost a total of about $665 million, said Jason Scott, public information officer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
The other seven segments are all more than 50 percent complete, although no paving has begun. “We’re still doing bridge work, dirt work and drainage,” Scott said.
Completion of all the Mississippi segments is expected by fall of 2018.