The New Bridge

 

Many of you have asked if I could get some kind of a picture a drawing or something on the new 321 river bridge. Well here it is. It's not great and it's hard to tell much about it. But this is the best I could do for now.

TDOT had provided a drawing of the new bridge and the approaches from both ends to the county highway department. The map runs from Hwy 321 and Hwy 11 to Hwy 321 just past JB's Country Store. The big map doesn't give a lot of detail on the landmarks along the route.

I took pictures of the map then pieced them together and drew the more notable landmarks to help understand kind of where the new bridge and existing roads are in relation to the new project. Excuse my art work. Then we used an IPhone to do a panoramic picture. 

321 will be four laned from 11 all the way through the project till it hits south bank of the canal between Tellico Lake and Ft. Loudon Lake. The project will keep the current canal bridge and add a second bridge along side the existing bridge. 321 will now be four lane from Melton Hill to Townsend.

Below is a thumbnail of the map with my additions. Click on the thumbnail for the larger picture. It's a little big and might take a little time to download. It's the best I could get for now. At least we can get some idea of how the new road and bridge will go.

Also, I have included a portion of a previous News Sentinel story that gives a little more detail on the project.

The state of Tennessee recently awarded a $69,361,720.70 million contract to a Sevierville Tennessee contractor to build a new, 4-lane bridge over the Tennessee River at Lenoir City.   

....the 21,200 motorists who daily use the dam bridge won't see a lot of disruptions because most of the construction is new on property owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The project is slated for completion May 31, 2015. The contract does not impose penalties for exceeding the completion date.

In addition to the 1,400-foot-long bridge to be built about 2,000 feet downstream from the dam, the project includes a new four-lane bridge over railroad tracks on U.S. Highway 321. A third, two-lane bridge will be built alongside the existing two-lane structure over the Tellico canal. Plans call for each of those two-lane bridges to carry traffic in one direction.

Plans call for straightening U.S. Highway 321 where it makes a sharp curve toward the dam near the intersection with Elm Hill Road.

All of U.S. Highway 321 from the intersection with U.S. Highway 11 to the Tellico canal bridges will be four lanes upon completion.

The project includes dismantling the J. Carmichael Greer Bridge over the dam without impeding the functions of the dam and the lock. The bridge over the 4,190-foot-long dam was built in 1963.

 

Click On Thumbnail For Larger View

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12/26/12