Knoxville (WVLT) - It's called SmartFIX-40, but if you have to drive in Knoxville, you may be using some harsher words to describe it over the next year.

It's hard to imagine Knoxville without Interstate-40 to take traffic through downtown. But beginning May 1st, that's the way it will be for over a year.

"I don't care what they do, cause most of Knoxville's interstates look pretty good, but this little spot here, do whatever it takes. If they have to stop Knoxville, just fix it!" Sam Sharp says.

Knoxville won't be stopped completely, just redirected. You can still use I-40, but coming from the East you can only go as far as Hall of Fame Drive. If you come in from the West, you'll can only go as far as James White Parkway.

The area in between will be closed completely beginning May 1st. Traveling all the way through town will mean using interstates I-640 and I-275.

"If you commute and use 640 or I-275 downtown, start looking for changes. Pay attention to the traffic reports," T.D.O.T. Spokesman, Travis Brickey says.

T.D.O.T. says changes will include more than 200 signs that will be changed or added, and new lane markings. By mid-April, those changes will happen almost daily.

"If you commute on a Wednesday and you go back to work on Thursday, things will look different. So that's how quickly things will happen," Brickey says.

Remember, watch out for other drivers. Not everyone knows about the changes. Jenny Foos is here from Pennsylvania with her daughter Abbey who's visiting U.T.

"It certainly would affect us, because if we're trying to do this in a certain amount of time to do this on a weekend, it would be nice to not be caught in a traffic jam," Jenny Foos says.

T.D.O.T says a major traffic change like this will be worse for the first week or so, as you get use to how your commute will be affected.