Spring Hill gets approval for Interstate 65 interchange at Buckner Road

By MATT BLOIS

Spring Hill received approval yesterday from the Federal Highway Administration to connect Buckner Road to Interstate 65.

At an informational meeting about transportation projects last month, City Administrator Victor Lay estimated the $35 million project probably wouldn’t be finished until 2024.

While construction on the interchange won’t start tomorrow, Spring Hill Alderman Matt Fitterer said it’s important to celebrate the small victories in this long process.

“This is a major milestone,” he said, “but it’s also a starting line.”

The city now has eight years to start construction before the approval expires. The next step will be an environmental assessment required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

Fitterer said the city will likely budget some money to start that study in the next fiscal year, which starts in July. Those environmental assessments can take a long time. He said the assessment for the project on Duplex Road took three years.

Spring Hill can start on some related road projects right away. It will need to widen Buckner Road to five lines so that it could handle traffic going to I-65, and Fitterer said the city has already set aside money to start that project. At the transportation meeting last month, Lay said that project would probably be completed by 2022.

The city is hoping that the Tennessee Department of Transportation will pay for most of the construction, but the agency hasn’t added it yet to the list of projects it plans to fund.

In December, the highway administration sent some comments on Spring Hill’s plan for the project and last month the city addressed the comments and resubmitted the application. The interchange will use a diverging diamond design, which funnels drivers crossing the bridge onto the left side of the road.

Below is a video depicting how to use the diverging diamond design: