The News in My Backyard

Tuesday was a lovely day to be rippin at 40 mph on the TVA boat. As long as we were movin, we didn't bake ourselves in the heat and humidity. TVA Police and I managed to get some work done while cruisin Douglas Res. We monitored our small tracts of public land and talked with boaters/skiers. The highlight of the day was running into the TN DOT at the I-40 bridge at French Broad river mile 54.5. The DOT crew was inspecting the bridge, a truss bridge, of similar construction to the bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed into the Mississppi River. Upon talking with one member of the crew, I learned that the State of TN has five bridges similar to the Minneapolis truss bridge. Four of them are in East TN. They include: Gay Street Bridge over the Tennessee mainstem in Knoxville, Netherland Inn Bridge over the Holston in Kingsport, a bridge over the Watauga in Carter County, and the I-40 bridge over the French Broad in Dandridge. The DOT crew has been assigned to inspect these truss bridges, and their reports will be due in a month. A previous inspection in 2005 resulted in a "structurally deficient" finding of the I-40 bridge. Also of note, the Hoskins Historic Bridge at French Broad river mile 36.0 in Dandridge carries the same label; which isn't hard to believe as it does not appear adequate to support the frequency of traffic it takes.

The truss bridge over the French Broad on Douglas Reservoir

The $1,000,000 DOT rig for bridge inspections and the rescue boat