TN.gov Newsroom

 

NASHVILLE --- Preliminary figures from the Tennessee Department of Safety show seven people were killed in traffic crashes on Tennessee roadways during the 78-hour Memorial Day holiday period. This would be a drop from the 16 fatalities that occurred during the 2009 Memorial Day holiday weekend and 13 deaths in 2008.

NASHVILLE---Special Agent Matthew Minter of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Criminal Investigations Division (CID) arrested a Knoxville man Friday morning after he allegedly made a bomb threat phone call to a Knoxville couple on the evening of Monday, May 17. Detective Mike Lawson of the Knoxville City Police Department also assisted in the case.

 

NASHVILLE --- It only takes a few seconds to buckle up, avoid a ticket and possibly save your life. Yet many still fail to take the time.  The Tennessee Highway Patrol is joining forces with the Governor’s Highway Safety Office and law enforcement agencies across the state and country for a high visibility Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign, urging all drivers and passengers to buckle up every time, all the time. The initiative runs May 24 through June 6, which includes the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Department of Safety is teaming up with the Alabama Department of Public Safety and the Mississippi Highway Patrol to “Take Back Our Highways” during the busy summer travel season. The intensive, joint targeted highway patrol program seeks to increase highway safety and reduce traffic fatalities on high-crash corridors, May 22-31, 2010.   A media event announcing the Hands Across the Border initiative will be held Monday, May 24, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. CST.

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Department of Safety will open a new Driver Service Center in Fayette County on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, located at 160 Beau Tisdale Drive in Oakland, Tennessee. The current location at 7027 Highway 64 West in Oakland will be closed on Tuesday, May 25.

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Department of Transportation contract crews will reduce Interstate 65 North and South in Sumner County to one lane this weekend as repairs to the bridges that cross over US 31W (Springfield Highway) continue. I-65 at mile marker 98 will be reduced to one lane in each direction from Friday, May 21, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. until Monday, May 24 at 6:00 a.m.

 

 

Chattanooga, Tenn. – Emergency repairs are now underway on Interstate 24 at mile marker 127 near the Grundy/Coffee County line where a large sinkhole opened up in the eastbound lanes at around 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 18. The Tennessee Department of Transportation awarded a $266,960 emergency contract to Highways, Inc. today at 3:30 p.m. Central Time to repair the damaged section of I-24 immediately. TDOT hopes to complete repairs and reopen the roadway by Saturday, May 22. The sinkhole is located between mile marker 127 and exit 127 and is estimated to be 25 feet wide and 25 feet deep. Until repairs are complete, traffic will be detoured off I-24 at exit 114 to Highway 41 then to State Route 50 and back onto I-24 at exit 127.

 

 

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Department of Safety has joined the May campaign to encourage motorcycle riders, bicyclists and drivers to “Share the Road.”  During this month’s Motorcycle Safety Awareness, TDOS has teamed up with the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, the Motorcycle Awareness Foundation of Tennessee and the XDL Championship Series for a safety festival on Saturday at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee.

 

 

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Department of Safety is teaming up with the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, the Motorcycle Awareness Foundation of Tennessee, the XDL Championship Series, Nashville Superspeedway, the Tennessee Truckers Association, the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, and Walk/Bike Nashville to promote May as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and National Bicycle Month. A “Share the Road” festival (www.sharetheroadtennessee.com) will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010, at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. A media event is scheduled for 5 p.m. CDT.