The City of Knoxville expects to sign a contract in the next few days with a local construction firm, Southern Constructors, to stabilize the Jackson Avenue ramp.

The city closed the ramp on April 18, after Tennessee Department of Transportation inspectors determined it had structural deficiencies and recommended that the ramp be shut down.

That section of Jackson carries traffic from the Old City up to the 100 block of Gay Street. It has remained open to pedestrians.

As soon as they received TDOT's report city engineers began analyzing the extent of the problem and developed a plan to fix it.

Brent Johnson, deputy director of the Knoxville's engineering department, said TDOT has seen the plan and approved it.

It involves using steel beams to reinforce a crack in the abutment supporting the Gay Street end of the ramp and to provide a better seat for the beams supporting the bridge deck.

Johnson indicated that the city hopes to have the ramp reopened by the end of June.

The city anticipates replacing the Jackson Avenue ramps - utilizing federal bridge replacement funding administered through TDOT's local programs office - within the next three-to-five years.