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Construction of two new bridges over Little River in Townsend is expected to start in January, bringing Blount County Highway Superintendent Bill Dunlap closer to his long-time goal of eliminating every one-lane bridge in the county.
The bid letting for a new bridge at Stables Drive is set for December, and right-of-way property is currently being acquired for a second bridge at Cameron Road.
The Cameron Road bridge will replace the current one-lane concrete bridge at Kinzel Springs, which will be turned into a covered bridge for pedestrians.
Dunlap said that he “learned from a Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) official in Nashville that the $750,000 Stables Road bridge will be ready for the late winter (December) bid letting.”
Dunlap has already sent TDOT the $143,000 Blount County portion of the costs, which comes to 20 percent.
“If the bid is awarded in December, weather permitting, the contractor should get started on it shortly after the first of the year,” Dunlap said.
He estimated it will take six-to-eight months to complete, depending on whether pilings can be used or a spread footer is required. It will be across from where Old Tuckaleechee Road enters East Lamar Alexander Parkway.
Drought helps
While the historically low water level in Little River due to drought conditions is causing big problems for Maryville and Alcoa, “right now is the ideal time to build a bridge,” Dunlap said.
“The contractor won’t have to make dams to revert the water away from the work site. That should cut a whole lot from costs of labor and materials.”
The Stables Drive bridge will be a concrete beam bridge, similar to the one at Melrose Station over Little River in Walland. It will be two lanes a minimum of 24 feet wide and 100 feet long. It will be erected down river from the present bridge, which will be demolished once the new structure is complete.
That bridge serves Tremont Campground and about 30 private residences along Stables Drive and Parkline Road.
The Tremont Bridge was damaged during the March flood of 1994, he said. It was repaired by Blount County and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and was then monitored closely by TDOT.
Both structures are being replaced under the Federal Bridge Replacement program.
The second bridge will be erected upriver from the current one-lane concrete bridge at Kinzel Springs, which was built around 1910. It will also be a concrete beam bridge similar to the Melrose Station structure.
Dunlap said he does not know how much that bridge will cost, but the Blount County portion will again be 20 percent.
He anticipates that contract will be awarded after the spring bid letting in March or April. The project should take less than one year to complete.
27 bridges replaced
Dunlap has made it his goal to get rid of all the one-lane bridges in Blount County under the Federal Bridge Replacement Program.
“We’ve done all the little bridges in the 75- to 120-foot range,” he said.
Since being named superintendent in 1994, Dunlap has replaced 27 bridges ranging from the large Melrose Station bridge to those under 20 feet that do not qualify under the bridge replacement program.
One-lane bridges currently under design or yet to be completed are:
— Garland Road bridge off U.S. 129 (Calderwood Highway);
— Reagan Mill bridge off Indian Warpath Road;
— Thompson Road bridge off U.S. 411 South near the Monroe County line;
— Big Elm Road off Trigonia Road near Monroe County line;
— Howard School Road bridge, one and a-half miles off Thompson Bridge Road;
— Cold Springs road off Ellejoy;
— Two East Miller’s Cove Road bridges, which should be replaced before the end of next year; and
— Middlesettlements Road bridge, which was built in the late 1950s or early 1960s and is only 14-feet wide.
Also, Andy Harris Road off Wildwood Road, a two-lane structure, is being is recommending by TDOT for replacement in the next few years.
Once replaced, there will be no more one-lane bridges out of the 62 bridges in the county that qualify for federal bridge replacement assistance, Dunlap said.
Gravel roads remain
Dunlap was appointed to the roads position after the death of his father, former Blount County Highway Superintendent Leonard Dunlap.
“Dad’s goal was to get us out of the dust, and mine is to replace all the one-lane bridges,” Dunlap said.
There are still three roads that are not asphalt, either due to the desires of residents or the topography.
One of those is less than a half-mile section of Cooks Hollow Road near the Monroe County line that residents want to stay gravel.
Another is Oscar Best Road, which runs off Six Mile road, that residents want to keep gravel.
The third is Mt. Luke Road at Townsend, which located is off East Lamar Alexander Parkway.
“That road is so narrow and has such switchbacks that I can’t get a dump truck up there,” Dunlap said.
Highway employees dump stone at the bottom of the hill and use a small backhoe bucket to put stone on the road about once a year.