(Yes, I’m late in posting this. We adopted a couple of kittens last week, and I’ve been a bit busy since then.)
In an earlier incarnation of my “highway feature blog” idea, I intended posting various bits of highway imagery in a Livejournal community.
The idea didn’t last very long, but I do still have a couple of images from that early attempt. Included in those are these before-and-after images of the western I-40/I-240 interchange in Memphis, TN:
This particular interchange has a bit of history behind it. I-40 was originally supposed to go through the Crosstown and Midtown sections of Memphis. However local activists blocked construction over concerns about the impact the freeway would have on Overton Park, which would have been bisected by I-40.
The original interchange was an artifact of the original plans. I-40 traffic would have passed through the city…but when I-40 was canceled and rerouted around the northern half of the I-240 loop, eastbound traffic was left navigating a tight ramp infamous for the number of trucks rolling over.
After about 20 years of debate, plans were put in motion to redesign and reconstruct the interchange as described in the pictures above. The project is well underway, but I thought I’d share a bit of history in the form of these pics.
