When the interstate nearest to East Nashville shuts down this weekend, ambulance and fire-truck drivers say they’ll be ready to navigate the detours and traffic. It’s the first of maybe a dozen weekends when I-24 will be closed near downtown for bridge work.
Metro responds to 100 thousand emergency calls each year, so Deputy Fire Chief Kim Lawson figures there’s not much her drivers haven’t handled before. Between various GPS devices, help from dispatchers, and responders’ own experience, Lawson says they’re ready.
“It’s not unusual to have to get through like Titans game-day traffic, or an accident on the interstate and such as that. So planning is definitely the key.”
The three-mile stretch of I-24 will close around 9 p.m. Friday and open again before rush-hour Monday morning most weekends through August. But the road will stay open on particularly busy occasions – like during the Music City Marathon next weekend.
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