The downtown Knoxville I-40 improvement project now has a name and its own web site. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) today unveiled a new logo for the project and announced the new internet address for the I-40 / James White Parkway / Hall of Fame Drive project.

"This is an important project to everyone who lives in Knoxville or who passes through Knoxville, from a standpoint of safety and mobility," said TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely.

"This project will impact a lot of lives, so giving it an easily recognizable name and logo will help people connect it to the steady flow of information we intend to provide to the public from the beginning of this endeavor until the end." SmartFIX40 will be the official name for this project, but the term SmartFIX will be used on all future TDOT accelerated construction projects.

The SmartFIX process was designed by TDOT to speed up the construction and rennovations of highways and bridges in a condensed time frame where possible. It involves a short-term, total road or bridge closure. This provides ample space for work crews to do their jobs and provides the freedom to work around the clock without time limitations. This drastically reduces the time it takes to finish a project and the long-term inconvenience to motorists.

"It's important to remember that the segment of I-40 that will be widened has three times as many accidents as any comparable section of interstate in Tennessee," according to Nicely.

"SmartFIX40 is the best solution to a tough problem."

SmartFIX40 will officially begin in the spring of 2005. The project involves extending Hall of Fame Drive from Summit Hill Drive to Broadway and widening I-40 downtown. Right-of-way property acquisitions are now underway.

"An estimated 23 months of construction will be eliminated from the project by rerouting traffic from a section of I-40 to I-640 for a period of 14 months, allowing crews to work on that portion of I-40 unimpeded by traffic, and around- the-clock when possible," said Fred Corum, TDOT's Region One Director. "The closure on I-40 will stretch from James White Parkway to Broadway.

That's just less than one mile in length."Corum added that it's important to note that TDOT intends to keep access to downtown as fully intact as possible during the entire I-40 widening project.

The web site was officially activated today at the following address: www.tennessee.gov/tdot/smartfix