Mayor Bill Haslam, TDOT officials and neighborhood representatives cut the ribbon Thursday to officially mark the opening of the SmartFIX40 Community Center and Project Office.  

The SmartFix40 Community Center is place for the public to get answers to their questions about construction on Interstate 40 in the downtown area by representatives form TDOT and its project consultant, Wilbur Smith Associates. Photographs of the project as well as maps, timelines and diagrams are also available at the center.

The Center is located at 915 N. Sixth Avenue, and is currently open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. TDOT has also started a project hotline -329-GO-40 - and website, www.smartfix40.com, to provide information about the project."This project will impact Knoxville in a big way and it's imperative to minimize inconveniences to citizens. TDOT's SmartFIX40 Community Center has done just that by providing a great way to communicate with the public," said Mayor Haslam.

SmartFIX is an accelerated construction process used by the department to speed up construction. It involves closing the primary roadway at a designated project to allow around-the-clock work that is uninterrupted by traffic in order to dramatically reduce the time it takes to complete the project, thereby reducing the long-term inconveniences to drivers.

In the SmartFIX40 project, James White Parkway will be closed for nine months in 2007, and I-40 through traffic will be rerouted onto I-640 for 14 months starting in the spring of 2008. Local traffic will have access to downtown at all times. Over two years of traffic delays, lane closures and motorist frustrations will be avoided by allowing construction crews the opportunity to work without restriction from moving traffic while traffic is rerouted from I-40. I-40 through downtown Knoxville carries an average of 103,000 vehicles a day.

The SmartFIX40 project consists of two contacts. Both include the largest incentives and penalties involved in the history of the department and commit the contractor to a "no-excuses" deadline.

The first contract was awarded to Ray Bell Construction Company last spring and includes the construction of Hall of Fame Drive and the re-construction of James White Parkway. The second contract will be awarded in 2006 and will include the widening of I-40.