I-65 Widening Named Project of the Year by ASHE Middle Tennessee

ROBERTSON COUNTY, TN—The $188 million effort to widen Interstate 65 in Robertson County has earned the American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE) Middle Tennessee Project of the Year award. The widening project was recognized for significantly increasing capacity, improving safety and streamlining traffic operations for the major north-south corridor.

With the corridor extending from State Route 25 to State Route 109 and carrying more than 53,000 vehicles daily, addressing growing traffic demands was a priority for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. They engaged Benesch to serve as the lead design firm for the project, which included the addition of one lane in each direction, as well as the replacement of ten mainline bridges and four overpasses. To complete the design in just over a year, Benesch leveraged its multidisciplinary team and pulled in experts from around the country.

“We were fortunate to have staff in multiple offices across the company contributing to the project alongside our Tennessee team to deliver with great success,” explained Brian Gaffney, PE. “It’s one of those projects that really highlights how we operate as one team at Benesch, even when separated by state lines and time zones.”

This project marks the first of four widening initiatives in TDOT’s plan for I-65. Once completed, I-65 will feature at least three lanes in each direction from Nashville to the Kentucky state line. The next phase of improvements is expected to begin this summer.

Members of the project team gathered at the ASHE Middle Tennessee Awards Dinner on January 22 to accept the award and celebrate the project’s success.