Comments on this Draft Environmental Impact Statement are due by June 30, 2009 and should be sent to Ms. Suzanne B. Herron at the address shown above. Draft EIS Date: April 10, 2009 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY and LIST of ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENTS ES.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ES.1 General Project Description The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) proposes to improve the I-55 Interchange at E.H. Crump Boulevard (State Route 15/U.S. 64) and South Riverside Boulevard, henceforth I-55 Interchange, within the western edge of the City of Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee. Interstate 55 is one of the major north-south transit corridors of the United States. The I-55 Interchange is utilized by high volumes of everyday, local commuters and through-traffic, including an abundance of commercial truck traffic. The current outdated configuration of the I-55 Interchange poses multiple safety and efficiency problems. The proposed project would involve reconfiguring the cloverleaf design of the existing I-55 Interchange into a configuration that reduces crashes, relieves congestion, and provides route continuity of I-55 by eliminating the need for mainline I-55 traffic to utilize single-lane, low-speed ramps. The project limits begin at the east termination of the I-55 Mississippi River Bridge in Memphis and extend southward along I-55 to near Wisconsin Avenue. The project study area generally consists of a 500-foot corridor along the existing footprint of I-55 from the Mississippi River Bridge extending south to McClemore Avenue. The entire footprint of the existing I-55 Interchange with E.H. Crump Boulevard and South Riverside Boulevard is included in the study area. The study area extends along approximately 1.5 miles of the existing I-55 alignment. No other major actions planned by other government agencies are known to be located in the same area as the I-55 Interchange project at this time. ES.2 Need for the Project Interstate 55, in the vicinity of the E.H. Crump Boulevard and South Riverside Boulevard Interchange, was constructed in the mid 1960’s with a geometric design that does not meet current Federal or State standards. The existing I-55 is a four-lane median-divided highway with one auxiliary lane in both directions. Numerous weave areas are located within the subject area, as well as substandard acceleration and deceleration lengths for most ramp junctions. The existing I-55 Interchange is a full cloverleaf design with loop ramps in all four quadrants. All exiting and entering traffic from these loops are required to make weaving maneuvers. The posted speed limit for these ramps is 25 miles per hour (mph), but average speeds through portions of the interchange typically range from 5 to 10 mph. This project is listed in the current Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP Project ID = 60030002). The project was included in the previous the 2004-2006 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), but was not listed in the most recent 2008-2011 TIP since the project had not moved beyond the NEPA phase and it was not known if construction would commence by 2011. If a Build Alternative is selected and carried forward to the right-of-way acquisition and construction phases, it would be included in the TIP. Traffic analysis has indicated that the existing interchange is inadequate to handle current and design year traffic volumes. For Year 2012, traffic volumes are estimated at 60,870 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), and for Year 2032 they are estimated to be 85,220 AADT. The existing cloverleaf configuration, the close proximity of adjacent interchanges, and the associated weave and merge problems severely congest the area and result in safety issues. The crash history for the area shows that a high number of collisions may be directly attributable to a combination of the existing interchange configuration and heavy traffic volumes. Those two factors I-55 Interchange Project Executive Summary Environmental Impact Statement ES-1 Draft EIS Date: April 10, 2009 result in frequent traffic congestion. This congestion, primarily caused by I-55 traffic being required to use the cloverleaf ramps to pass through the area, results in an abundance of rear-end and side­ swipe type crashes. Most of the crashes in the project area are rear-end accidents that occur on I-55 along the roadway segments approaching the weave and ramp areas where traffic tends to back up most frequently. Traffic studies indicated that if one of the proposed Build Alternatives were implemented to make the main lanes of I-55 continuous and reduce the number of weave movements by not forcing traffic to use the existing cloverleaf interchange, the overall capacity, safety, and efficiency of the interchange would improve. The Build Alternatives would include flyover bridges for the main lanes of I-55 configured with a design speed of 50 mph. To summarize, improving the I-55 Interchange would provide a logical freeway facility that connects portions of I-55 located west/north of Memphis to portions of I-55 located south of Memphis. The proposed project has logical termini and independent utility. The proposed interchange would reduce congestion, reduce crashes, restore interstate route continuity, and would not restrict consideration of alternatives of other reasonably foreseeable transportation improvements. ES.3 Purpose of the Project The purpose of the proposed project is to provide a balanced solution for safety and capacity issues at the I-55 Interchange. Benefits and core objectives of the interchange improvement project include reduced congestion, reduced number of crashes, and restored north and south mainline interstate route continuity. Restored route continuity would serve national security and national defense objectives while providing economic benefits by improving north- and south-bound freight transport. Ultimately, the final design of the new interchange will be a result of continued coordination and cooperation with various agencies, organizations, and other stakeholders for the project. The overall goal of the new I-55 Interchange would be to provide a facility that would adequately serve the future transportation needs of the area while minimizing adverse human and environmental impacts to the extent practical by implementing impact avoidance, minimization, and/or mitigation efforts. ES.4 Project Alternatives Evaluated in the Environmental Impact Statement Two Build Alternatives have been identified as reasonable alternatives to be considered in the I-55 Interchange Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The No-Build Alternative is included in the study as a tool for comparison of the potential impacts of the Build Alternatives. Several other alternatives, including various design configurations, enhancement of the public transportation system, and/or implementation of Transportation System Management (TSM) techniques, were also considered as potential alternatives for this project, but were later eliminated from further consideration because they did not meet the criteria to be considered reasonable alternatives. Further discussion concerning the elimination of certain alternatives can be found in Chapter 2 of this EIS. Screening criteria used to determine which alternatives to pursue included the following: Â The alternative must meet the general project Purpose and Need including providing a balanced solution for safety and capacity issues at the I-55 Interchange; Â The alternative must seek to avoid or minimize impacts to the social, economic, natural, and cultural resources within the project vicinity; Â Build alternatives must be reasonable and feasible to construct; and I-55 Interchange Project Executive Summary Environmental Impact Statement ES-2 Draft EIS Date: April 10, 2009 Â The alternative must meet design standards as defined in “A Policy on Design Standards – Interstate System, 5th Edition” and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) “A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets” which outlines the criteria for urban freeways in Chapter 8 by stating, “… design speed should not be less than 80 km/hr (50 mph).” This design guide notes, “… higher design speeds are closely related to the overall quality and safety of a facility.” No-Build Alternative The No-Build Alternative, as implied, normally denotes that only minor changes, such as minor safety enhancements and routine maintenance, would be made to the existing interchange. No improvements or substantial alterations would be made to the existing interchange configuration, and no new structures would be added to the existing infrastructure. The existing interchange operates at unacceptably poor Levels of Service (LOS). The weave areas associated with the existing cloverleaf places very high volumes of through-traffic on I-55 onto single-lane ramps resulting in LOS F, the worst possible level. These form queues of traffic and impede traffic flow upstream for north and southbound traffic. The problem is especially severe for northbound traffic, which regularly queues through the McLemore Interchange and through the South Parkway Interchange. These long queues have been a problem for many years, and they are a source of extensive travel delays. These traffic capacity concerns would continue under the No Build Alternative. Other non-related development projects, some of which could result in additional traffic volumes in the immediate project vicinity are likely to occur regardless of the I-55 Interchange Improvements resulting in additional traffic congestion and safety issues. The No Build Alternative provides the basis for comparing potential impacts associated with the proposed Build Alternatives. Build Alternatives Two Build Alternatives were identified that would be capable of fulfilling the purpose and need for this project. The two proposed Build Alternatives, Alternative A and Alternative B, utilize the same general design with variations in the arrangement of exits and secondary roads. Each of the Build Alternatives would include construction of flyover bridges for the main lanes of I-55 allowing mainline I-55 traffic to pass through the interchange freely.