Author: Vicky Newman
Source: News-Herald
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| Courtesy www.leavingterrafirma.com |
The long-awaited new bridge over Fort Loudoun Dam once again is on the front burner and slated to begin this year.
According to Gary King, Tennessee Department of Transportation project manager, all permits and plans are ready to go. Construction could finally begin this year. "We expect the project will be in the June 15, 2012 letting," King said. The bridge cost is estimated at $57 million.
The new span will replace the current 50-year-old, two-lane bridge running atop Fort Loudoun Dam with a new four-lane bridge a few hundred yards down river, King said.
The 1.5-mile project will widen Highway 321/State Route 73 to four lanes. The new bridge will be maintained by the state instead of Tennessee Valley Authority.
Pat Phillips, Loudon County Economic Development Agency director, said the Fort Loudoun dam is one of the very few in the country that has a major roadway sitting on it.
"TVA wants the road off the bridge," Phillips said. "It is a national security issue and it is a safety issue because it needs work."
The current bridge is owned by TVA, which is, along with TDOT, coordinating the removal of the existing bridge.
Phillips said the project likely will take two to three years to complete, but work should have minimal impact on local traffic. The existing bridge will remain in use until the new span is completed. The removal of the existing bridge is part of the highway project and will be done once the new bridge and roadway are completed and open to traffic.
"We shouldn't see any issues the first couple of years, because the work is downstream," Phillips said.
Many delays have beset and postponed the project, which has been a countywide priority for more than 10 years. The current bridge's location does not allow room for expansion. Four-lane traffic on both sides of the bridge bottlenecks into two lanes in peak seasons, causing traffic to back up.
Funding issues have affected the bridge construction schedule, but the lack of a congressional transportation spending bill delayed the project from being let sooner this year, King said.
The most recent delay was when bid letting was postponed last August because the U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers identified engineering problems. Pilings were redesigned to allow accommodation of larger barges.
In preparation for construction, work will be under way soon on some traffic flow alteration projects.
Eddie Simpson, Loudon County road superintendent, said changes will be made at the intersection of Highway 321 and Highway 11. That project will be done by the state as well, Simpson said.
"We got the state to add the paving of Broadway Street to their project and bids are already let on that project," Simpson said. "We will be doing some things ahead of time like making two left turns onto Highway 321. We will shorten the islands and free up that congestion so that once the bridge work starts we can keep all lanes flowing."
Patty Construction in Lenoir City will be paving Broadway and most of the work will be done at night to lessen traffic delays. They are expected to be completed before the bridge work begins.
Because of the complexity of the project and scope of the work, King said it will be several months after bridge bids are let before construction is started. Time will be needed to award the contract, hold coordination meetings with the contractors and multiple government agencies, and then the contractors have to mobilize their equipment, King said.
The bridge project was spearheaded by Phillips, and has had strong local and federal support, including U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., state Sen. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and state Reps. Jimmy Matlock, R-Lenoir City, and Julia Hurley, R-Lenoir City.
"We've been working on this a number of years," Matlock said.
