TDOT Announces Results of Statewide Bridge Review

Nashville, Tennessee - The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has completed a review of 250 overpass bridges around the state that were inspected to determine if they contained delaminated or loose concrete that could possibly fall on vehicles passing below.

“Our inspectors identified 27 bridges as needing some type of repair that will have to be done by a contractor. However, twenty of those bridges had already been scheduled for repairs or replacement,” said TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely.

The inspections were conducted at the request of Commissioner Nicely following an incident in August in Nashville when some small chunks of concrete fell from the Church Street Bridge onto Interstate 40.

“No vehicles were hit by the falling concrete but I certainly did not want to see this happen again, so immediately following the Church Street incident we had crews testing bridges across the state, chipping loose concrete off where possible and putting up containment devices where needed,” Nicely explained. “The bridges that need repair are not in bad structural condition. They are being treated as a top priority and will be fixed as soon as possible.”

According to TDOT’s Chief Engineer, Paul Degges, a variety of things can cause the concrete to loosen, or delaminate. “The Church Street Bridge had been hit by an oversized vehicle in the past that caused some initial superficial cracking. However, small pieces of concrete can become loose because of a number of reasons including age, weather and the general wear and tear of thousands of vehicles using a roadway or bridge each day.”

Degges anticipates a total cost for the repairs at around $5 million. “We have removed loose concrete on some bridges, and are putting up containment devices where needed until the repairs are made. We are securing contracts for the repairs on the bridges as soon as possible and will be working on them next year, but again, this is not an urgent safety issue, it is a precautionary measure.”

TDOT inspects each of the 19,673 bridges in Tennessee once every two years. The Federal Highway Administration under the U.S. Department of Transportation sets the standards for those inspections. The state owns and maintains 8,067 of those bridges, the rest are owned by local municipalities. Most of the bridges across the state range in age from one to 75 years of age.

The list of bridges to be repaired is as follows:

County                       Overhead Route          Crossing

Cumberland             I-40                          SR 24 (part of a pair of parallel bridges)

Cumberland             I-40                          SR 24 (part of a pair of parallel bridges)

Davidson                 SR 155                      Briley Parkway (right lane)/I-40

Davidson                 SR 155                      Briley Parkway (left lane)/I-40

Hamilton                 I-24                          Dodds Avemue

Hamilton                 I-24                          SR 8 (US 41) Westside Drive

Hamilton                 4148                         South Seminole Drive/I-24

Hamilton                 I-24                          Germantown Road

Hawkins                  SR 1                         North Fork Holston River

Hawkins                  SR 1                         North Fork Holston River

Haywood                 SR 19                       I-40

Jefferson                I-40                          SR 66

Knox                      SR 33                       Tennessee River

Monroe                   SR 322                      I-75

Polk                       SR 40                       SR 33 & CSX RR

Putnam                   I-40                          I-40/SR 24

Putnam                   SR 24                       SR 24/I-40

Roane                     I-40                          SR 61 SOU RWY & Branch

Roane                     I-40                          SR 58

Roane                     I-40                          SR 58

Shelby                    SR 277                      SR 277/2861-E295 & Southern RR

Shelby                    SR 23                       SR 23/SR 277

Shelby                    811                          Canada Road/I-40

Shelby                    E721                         Olive Avenue/I-55

Shelby                    2861                         Southern Avenue/Lamar Avenue

Shelby                    SR-14                       Industrial Avenue & IC RR

Shelby                    SR-23                       CSX RR & Union RWY