The long-awaited I-269 project is one week away from being finished.
The last nine-mile stretch which connects I-55 to highway 305 in Lewisburg is set to officially open next Friday.
“It’s a trucker’s dream, said Terry Jobe, Director of recruiting and sales at Graham Trucking. Graham has been in business for more than twenty years and runs 45 trucks out of Grenada and Nesbit, Mississippi.
Graham is a general commodities hauler, so they transport just about everything you can think of said Jobe, “Just about anything that’s out there we’re going to move America.”
Jobe says they’ll be able to move America much faster once the final phase of I-269 in DeSoto County opens next week.
“For our eastbound freight going out of this area, instead of going through Memphis and all the traffic, now we can hit 269 and come right out at Arlington on our Nashville runs, and save our drivers and our customers probably an hour or so a trip,” Jobe said.
Officials with Graham Trucking say the opening of 269 will cut down on the amount of time a trucker spends on the road which means it will be safer and they’ll be able to get home to their families sooner.
“Getting our drivers back home, as important as it is for home time for our guys, we want to make sure that we get them back as quickly as possible and that hour means everything to their families,” said Jobe.
The seven-part I-269 project started ten years ago and is designed to be part of the new “superhighway” between Mexico and Canada.
Locally, I-269 begins at I-55 in Hernando and will connect with 385 in Collierville.
The last nine-mile stretch, about to open, will connect I-55, north of Hernando, to Highway 305 in Lewisburg. Jobe says truck drivers are looking forward to bypassing interstates like 55, 40, and 240, every chance they get.
“We can get on the roads quicker. No congestion,” Jobe said.
The ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the final phase of I-269 will be held next Friday at 10am at I-269 and Getwell Road.
