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Environmental Division

Social & Cultural Office, Historic Preservation Section

James K. Polk Building, Suite 900
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0334
Phone: 615.253.2461
Fax: 615.741.1098

Martha Carver, Historic Preservation Program Manager

Historic Bridges

Historians with TDOT work extensively to identify, survey, and preserve historic bridges throughout the state. In the 1980s, TDOT began an intensive statewide survey of all vehicular bridges potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to the statewide survey, TDOT attempts to rehabilitate and preserve as many bridges as possible. Also, TDOT has a marketing program to advertise the availability of historic bridges for preservation in place or at new locations. This program identifies governments, agencies, parks, or historic groups that might be interested in preserving historic bridges. For every historic bridge scheduled for replacement, TDOT mails information to about 100 groups that might be interested in either preserving the bridge in place or adaptively reusing the structure on a new location. This marketing program has led to the successful preservation or adaptive reuse of many of Tennessee’s most unique bridges. Because of this intensive marketing campaign, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the U.S. Department of Transportation honored TDOT with an Outstanding Public Service to Transportation and Historic Preservation award.

Photo of Shelby Street Bridge.
TDOT and the Metropolitan Government
of Davidson County recently completed the
successful rehabilitation of the historic Shelby
Street Bridge over the Cumberland River in
Nashville. Since its opening in 2002, it has
become a landmark to locals and tourists alike.

Photo of Elizabethton Covered Bridge.
Built in 1891, the Hobbs Bridge near
 Fayetteville is one of the last Baltimore Petit trusses in the Southeast. In 1987, a replacement bridge was built and the Hobbs Bridge was closed to vehicular traffic. Due to liability and hydraulic concerns, the county removed the pony trusses but left the Baltimore Petit truss to stand as a historic ruin.

Photo of a Bridge at Rock Island State Park.

TDOT bypassed this historic bridge and
incorporated it into a trail in the Rock Island
State Park in 1986. The bridge now also serves
as a fishing pier on the Collins River above
the Great Falls Dam.

Originally erected in 1889 in Bordeaux near Nashville, the Nashville Bridge Company dismantled and moved two spans to this location in 1916. A third span of the Old Bordeaux Bridge remains bypassed and abandoned in rural Linton.

In 2006, TDOT received an Award of
Excellence for its rehabilitation of the historic
Elk Avenue Bridge in Elizabethton, Tennessee. The prestigious biennial competition, sponsored by Portland Cement Company, recognizes excellence in design and construction of concrete bridges. Of the ten winning entries, TDOT’s was the only rehabilitation of a historic bridge.

The Elk Avenue Bridge, a concrete arch bridge built by the Luten Bridge Company, was erected in 1926 and is within the Elizabethton Historic District. Originally slated for replacement, local interest led to rehabilitation. The response to the rehabilitation of this bridge was so positive that the State chose to rehabilitate, instead of replace, a nearby and nearly identical 1929 concrete arch structure on State Route 37.

 Photo of the Elk Avenue Bridge.

Pre-1946 Masonry Arch, Timber Truss, Metal Truss, Concrete Arch, Metal Arch, and Suspension Bridges

What types of bridges exist in Tennessee? What is their history? Which bridge companies practiced in Tennessee? What is the significance of bridges around the state?  In a new publication, TDOT uses historical context, narrative history, images, and drawings to address those issues and explore an overall bridge history in Tennessee, up to the end of World War II.

This publication details TDOT’s state-wide survey of vehicular metal truss, timber truss, masonry arch, concrete arch, metal arch, and suspension bridges that have been or are currently located on highways. It discusses the survey’s findings, including:

  • Historical context of road and bridge construction
  • Bridge companies that practiced in Tennessee
  • An engineering context and
  • Information on each bridge that has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

The survey reveals the existence of a surprising number of significant historic bridges and provides a foundation for their preservation. It also provides a detailed context of bridge history in Tennessee that will appeal to not only historians, but also to anyone who has wondered about the history of a bridge in their community.

Copies of this study are available at most library systems in Tennessee.

View and download chapters of the Historic Highway Bridges publication.