The Daily Times

The completion date on rock fall mitigation on three sites along the two-lane section of East Lamar Alexander Parkway between Walland and Townsend has been moved from May 15 to June 30.

It took longer to complete work on the first rock slide location than was first anticipated, according to Mark Nagi, Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) community relations officer for Region 1.

Work has now been completed on the first and second sites except for paving, and the portable traffic lights have been moved to the third and last locations east of the two sites. The lights were placed in the caution mode to get traffic used to the new location.

Work at site number one involved drilling holes for rock anchors to help stabilize the slope and support the rockfall mesh. Work also included drilling holes for reinforcing steel for a shotcrete buttress which was added by the TDOT Geotechnical Section.

The removal of the material at site number one and examination of the slope revealed additional measures necessary to stabilize the slope than was first anticipated.

The contractor scaled the slope using a track hoe bucket to rake the loose material away. Once the loose material was removed, it had to be hauled away, according to Nagi.

Work suspended

TDOT has suspended construction-related lane closures on interstates and state routes through the Memorial Day weekend.

“The contractor has started work on the final site, but he has to keep all lanes open for Memorial Day weekend so he won’t set up his temporary lane closures with barrier rails and temporary signals until next week,” according to Nagi.

He does not know how much material has been removed to date, but TDOT paid for about 4,000 cubic yards of excavation and 6,000 square yards of scaling and trimming, all from site number one through April 20.

Numbers from April 21 through May 20 are not available yet.

Paving will be done on all three locations when the rock fall mitigation is complete.