Done and dusted
Work on bridge lanes complete; traffic flow back to normal
Now that all lanes of the new Clinch River bridge in Clinton have been opened to traffic, the associated traffic jams – which hit a peak last week – are now over, and until spring, motorists should have smooth sailing over the bridge and through its approaches, officials say.
Traffic was in full swing over the new Lewallen Bridge on Friday, after crews spent most of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday doing the final paving for the approaches on both sides, and worked Thursday to re-stripe the lanes and install and program the traffic signals.
The next work that could interrupt traffic should not occur until spring, when “the new concrete bridge deck is scheduled to have grooves installed,” said Lynn Murphy, the city of Clinton’s liaison to the Tennessee Department of Transportation on the bridge project.
“This [the grooves] helps prevent vehicle hydroplaning by allowing stormwater to drain toward the gutters within the grooves, rather than sheeting across the road surface,” Murphy said Monday.
“Once this is finished, the painted pavement markings are replaced with thermoplastic pavement markings, which are much more visible and durable,” he said.
At the height of the traffic disruptions last Tuesday and Wednesday, traffic was backed up for more than a mile and motorists had to wait more than an hour to cross the bridge, especially those coming from the South Clinton side on Clinch Avenue.
Traffic was shut down to one lane, and periodically stopped completely, as workers put the final layer of asphalt on the connectors from the concrete bridge deck to Clinch Avenue on the south side and to Charles G. Seivers Boulevard on the north side.
Once the asphalt paving was completed, pavement markings were put down on Thursday in preparation for “opening the full-width of the bridge and creating five northbound lanes, two southbound lanes, a center dividing buffer lane, and bike lanes in each direction,” Murphy said.
Still to be completed are the removal of the old Green Bridge and the reconstruction of Riverside Drive under the new bridge, he said.
“The demolition of the old bridge is well underway and should be complete by the end of April 2022,” Murphy said. “Then, construction will begin to rebuild the section of Riverside Drive affected by the new bridge. A new section of the Lakefront Park walking trail will be built, as well as a new parking area and boat dock.
“Finally, demobilization of the cranes, barges, equipment, and materials will begin. This should all be complete sometime in the summer of 2022 (my estimate, not theirs),” Murphy told The Courier News.
The state opened part of the new bridge to traffic Oct. 12, but some of the lanes on the south side of the span remained closed as workers finished building, bike lanes and the center dividing lane.
There has been no official word yet on when the main overhead structure of the old bridge will be taken down. Known colloquially as the Green Bridge, it has been a Clinton landmark since it opened in 1938.
Workers have already begun removing the concrete deck and other parts of the old bridge.
“Once all concrete is removed, steel removal begins,” Murphy said earlier. “Large sections of steel will be cut free using handheld oxygen-acetylene cutting torches. A barge-mounted crane will hoist the large sections, then lower them to an empty barge.
“Here, the larger sections will be cut into smaller pieces, and then transferred to trucks for removal. The large beams will be retained for future use, and the smaller pieces will be recycled as scrap iron. All steel belongs to [bridge contractor Blalock Construction], by contract.
“When all the bridge steel is removed, the two concrete piers will be removed from the river by sawing them off a few feet above the water surface level. The remaining concrete pier sections in the water will be drilled vertically and then broken apart using low-level explosive charges. Once detonated, any concrete and reinforcement steel in the water will be removed using a clamshell bucket attached to a crane cable.”
Work on the new bridge began in September 2018. Contractor for the $27.6 million dollar project is Charles Blalock and Sons, Inc. of Sevierville.