Walnut Street bridge demolition part of major changes for Macon’s I-75/I-16 – The Telegraph

People who havent traveled through Macon on Interstates 75 or 16 lately may be in for quite a shock.

The landscape is continually changing as contractors for the Georgia Department of Transportation are clear-cutting acres of trees through Pleasant Hill and along the Ocmulgee River.

The project kicked off in June and is progressing at a rapid pace, said Kimberly Larson, a GDOT spokesperson.

Lanes have closed on I-75 North from Hardeman Avenue to the I-16 East split, and only one I-75 North lane is open for motorists headed toward Pierce Avenue.

Drivers headed south on I-75 will also find narrowing lanes to I-16 and toward Hardeman Avenue as workers rebuild the highway without having to shut it down.

The carefully orchestrated changes typically happen in the overnight hours with Bibb County sheriffs deputies providing assistance in slowing down travelers through the work zone.

Lower speed limits are posted through the site lined with orange barrels, concrete barriers and freshly painted lanes to mark the traffic shifts.

Those driving along Walnut Street on the James Brown Bridge over the interstate also are shifting lanes.

They are taking that bridge out, Larson said Friday. They started removing handrails (Thursday) night and fencing. Were starting with pieces.

By Saturday, the formerly wide, two-lane road through Pleasant Hill was down to one corridor shared by vehicles headed in both directions.

Heavy equipment tore up chunks of concrete and piled up the rubble in the old westbound lanes, which are blocked by concrete barriers.

Demolition of the bridge will continue overnight Sunday through Thursday with an I-75 South lane closure from mile marker 163.5 to 164.5.

Monday through Friday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. exits, daytime workers will be paving temporary sections of the ramps and work on other temporary pavement sections for I-16 east and west.

Also during the day, crews will be placing storm drain pipes and working on a large culvert near the Walnut Street Bridge and along the Hardeman Avenue on-ramp to I-75 North.

A new $500 million interchange is being built to widen the highway and create safer access and exit ramps from Hardeman to Pierce avenues and I-16 to Walnut Creek.

The project includes designated exit and access lanes to alleviate the current mess of merging traffic lanes that are often the scene of collisions near the Ocmulgee River.

A construction bridge will be built on the western side of the river and will later become a pedestrian crossing to increase access on the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail all the way to the Amerson Water Park.

A Georgia Department of Transportation rendering shows a new Otis Redding Bridge during an unspecified future project.

Special to The Telegraph breaking@macon.com

The Otis Redding Bridge on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. will also be upgraded and widened, according to an image posted on http://www.dot.ga.gov, but it was not immediately clear when that will occur.

The first four phases of construction are expected to be complete by 2021, including a new Jefferson Long Park in Pleasant Hill being built by the summer of 2018.

A tunnel also will be built for Norfolk Southern Railroad during the last of seven phases of construction, which wont go out for bids until 2023, and which will also finish the I-75 corridor north of the Ocmulgee River.

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Walnut Street bridge demolition part of major changes for Macon's I-75/I-16 - The Telegraph