Recovery Act Funds Help to Open New Carter County Bridge

[img:3 align=float_left]Traffic Flowing on Two Lane Bridge Two Months Ahead of Schedule

  

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Gerald Nicely joined House Speaker Kent Williams and other state and local leaders today to officially open the new bridge over the Watauga River in the Siam community of Carter County. Traffic is already flowing on a new 2 lane concrete bridge that replaced a one lane steel structure originally built in 1941. The $1.55 million project was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and was one of the first ARRA construction projects in the state.

 

[img:2 align=float_right]“We are pleased to see this new bridge open and completed two months ahead of the scheduled August 31 completion date,” Commissioner Nicely said. “The new two lane structure better serves the many visitors to the Siam community in Carter County and will improve access to the nearby Watauga Lake.”

 

[img:1 align=float_left]The new concrete bridge is built to current safety standards and eliminates the dangerous curves drivers had to negotiate at either end of the old one-lane steel truss bridge. 

 

“The curvy entrance to the old steel bridge was a safety hazard to the hundreds of people who crossed it almost every day,” said House Speaker Kent Williams. “I’m pleased Governor Bredesen and Commissioner Nicely chose to use Recovery Act funds to replace the old bridge with a new safer structure and am especially pleased the state saved the county $300,000 in matching dollars.”

 

Because the state used funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to replace the county owned and maintained steel bridge, the Carter County government saved more than $300,000 in matching funds normally required for bridge replacement projects. Normally, the county would have been required to provide a 20 percent match in order to receive federal bridge replacement funds, however, that match was waived for projects funded through the federal Recovery Act. 

 

One local family grew up around the bridge and remains a part of its history. John Allen lives across from the new structure and was one of the local subcontractors hired to help build the new bridge. John and his father, 95-year old Bill Allen along with John’s four grandchildren joined Governor Phil Bredesen, Commissioner Nicely and Speaker Williams to break ground on the new bridge in April 2009. John’s father Bill was a young man when he watched the construction of the old steel bridge in 1941. At that time, the steel truss bridge replaced an outdated wooden plank bridge originally used by horsedrawn wagons. 

 

“It has been educational and fascinating to experience the construction of this new bridge as a worker on a project that means so much to my family,” John Allen said. “I am grateful not only for the work this project provided for my household and my community, but for the bridge that we will use for travel for generations to come.”
 

 The prime contractor on the project was Charles Blalock and Sons Inc.