If your midday drive up I-65 through Goodlettsville has felt louder, slower, and a whole lot dustier lately, you are not imagining it. The long-running widening of I-65 north of Nashville has kicked into high gear, with crews shifting traffic onto newly built inside lanes and tearing down aging overpasses.
Drivers in Goodlettsville and surrounding neighborhoods have been hit with nighttime closures, detours, and daytime blasting as work marches up the corridor. Activity is concentrated between Rivergate Parkway and US-31W, around mile markers 96 to 99, where fresh concrete lanes and bridge work are starting to reshape the interstate’s profile.
Blasting for the Phase 3 widening project began May 28 near mile markers 96 to 99, with crews limiting the explosive work to weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The plan calls for a single blast per day, backed up by rolling roadblocks in both directions when charges are set off. Contractors expect two to three blasts per week in each area as they move along the corridor, and traffic is gradually being shifted onto the newly built inside lanes so workers can rip up and rebuild the older pavement.
Motorists are being urged to pad their travel time and check for project advisories before commuting, according to NewsChannel 5.
Old Spans Coming Down, New Lanes Rolling Out
A video posted June 17 by TDOT’s myTDOT account shows crews stripping out the old I-65 bridges over Long Hollow Pike, East Cedar Street, and US-31W to make way for replacement spans. Local lane-closure notices documented demolition windows in late April and early May, and crews have been running overnight closures and detours to get the work done while traffic is lighter.
The footage and posted schedules make it clear this stretch of I-65 is shifting from teardown to rebuild mode, with new structures taking the place of the old concrete that has loomed over local roads for decades. Per myTDOT and Sumner County Source.
Blasting, Roadblocks, and Local Closures
The blasting work is creating short rolling roadblocks on I-65 during the midday window, the kind of on-again, off-again slowdown that can turn a quick trip into a crawl. Crews are coordinating with the State Fire Marshal to keep those blasts tightly controlled and limited to that single daily shot.
Reporters note that drilling and blasting will alternate between the project’s upper and lower benches as crews work through the rocky terrain along the route. And even when explosives are not involved, the zone has proven delicate: in March, a vehicle struck an older span, briefly closing US-31W beneath I-65 and underlining why strict traffic control remains in place through the work area, as reported by NewsChannel 5 and WSMV.
What Comes Next
Phase 3 covers the stretch from Rivergate Parkway to SR-41 (US-31W) and will widen I-65 to three lanes in each direction. The project will replace four overpasses in the corridor, add auxiliary lanes between interchanges, and upgrade lighting and SmartWay systems. TDOT lists an estimated completion date of November 2027 and says crews will also build retaining walls and convert the US-31W interchange into a diverging diamond design to improve traffic flow, according to TDOT.
The work is being staged in phases to keep traffic moving, at least in theory, while the corridor picks up more capacity and modern safety features.
For ongoing lane-closure schedules and detours, local reporting and project advisories remain the go-to sources as crews push ahead. Older overnight closure alerts were issued when TDOT first began nighttime work on the corridor, and Hoodline's earlier roundup of the project's nighttime closures still offers useful background for commuters trying to keep up with shifting schedules.
For now, drivers are being urged to obey detour signs, slow down through the work zone, and add a little extra time for any trip that runs through Goodlettsville and the Rivergate area. On this stretch of I-65, “short delay” has a way of turning into “you are going to be late.”
