NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — If you’re traveling to and/or from Nashville International Airport this week, your route may take you on the new Donelson Pike Diverging Diamond Interchange.

Starting at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 9, the Tennessee Department of Transportation will shift drivers onto the new interchange over Interstate 40. This will lead to permanent and temporary lane and ramp closures near BNA.

Considering the number of people who fly in and out of Nashville, traffic around BNA is usually top of mind for transportation officials.

“We're seeing so many people coming to Nashville. It's the 'it city,' right? So, we had to accommodate even more people coming in through years ahead,” said Erin Zeigler, communications officer for TDOT Region 3. 

With that comes new road projects.

Sarah Fugate, resident engineer for TDOT District 37, said the Diverging Diamond Interchange allows two directions of traffic to temporarily cross the opposite side of the road over I-40 before going back to the original traffic pattern. She added that it's a much safer design.

“I believe we see about a 50% reduction in those T-bone type crashes... We don’t run into that with the DDI design because the ramp traffic, first of all, it's not crossing any oncoming traffic and it's just free flow,” Fugate said.

The design is also expected to improve traffic.

“The goal of this project is to increase capacity and the efficiency of this entire area by the airport,” Zeigler said.  

The entire TDOT project is phase seven of nine, so Fugate said you'll still see construction over the next couple of months.

“We're going to be doing some paving, repaving I-40. I know there's been a lot of complaints about that, so that's going to be coming before Halloween,” Fugate said. 

At 7 p.m. Monday, TDOT said MasTec Civil crews will begin shifting traffic onto the Diverging Diamond Interchange in three phases, but work should be completed by 4 a.m. on Tuesday, June 10. During the transitionary period, all airport traffic must take Exit 216A.

If you have a flight out of BNA late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, you're strongly encouraged to leave early for the airport.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/traffic-shift-onto-diverging-diamond-interchange-begins-near-bna/