KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — Plans are moving forward for crews to convert two interchanges to diverging diamond interchanges in Knox County.
The Department of Transportation plans to build a diverging diamond interchange at the I-75 and Emory Road intersection in North Knox County. TDOT's online timeline shows the project is in the preliminary design phase.
In Farragut, the City Board of Alderman and the Mayor also approved a contract with TDOT to build a diverging diamond interchange at Campbell Station Road and the I-40 intersection.
Diverging diamonds make drivers cross over and drive on the left side of the road. In the U.S. drivers customarily use the right side of the road.
Knox County's Chief Engineer Jim Snowden said diverging diamond interchanges are useful when there's heavy traffic trying to turn left — such as at the exit towards Gatlinburg off I-40.
At Emory Road in the morning, Snowden said a large group of cars usually tries to turn left on I-75 to try to get to Knoxville.
In Sevier County, TDOT replaced the interchange at Exit 407 with a diverging diamond, to mitigate the backups on I-40 and Winfield Dunn Parkway.
TDOT built Tennessee's first diverging diamond interchange at the Alcoa Highway/State Route 115 bypass bridge in Maryville in 2010.
Here's an example from TDOT of one that was built a few years ago at an I-24 interchange in Nashville:
Farragut Mayor Ron Williams said he's excited TDOT is bringing this concept to his town to ease the congestion that he says his constituents complain about.
"The big thing about the diverging diamond is it'll carry four times the amount of traffic as a regular cloverleaf," Mayor Williams said. "We have a tremendous amount of traffic that comes that's headed west."
Mayor Williams said Farragut and TDOT have a contract over the next five years. The town will raise funds to pay for its portion of the project before construction can begin.