The Hon. William Everette Lewallen Memorial Bridge is pictured above on Clinch Avenue near downtown Clinton. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Information from WYSH Radio
Clinton will have to continue to wait for the Lewallen Bridge replacement project to proceed as city officials have told WYSH Radio that the Tennessee Department of Transportation has not yet obtained the necessary permits from either the Tennessee Valley Authority or the Coast Guard that would allow the work to begin.
Clinton City Manager Roger Houck said that the permit application process will likely take six to nine months, meaning that the timeline has been pushed back once again by the state.
A request for bid proposals is now expected to be sent out next month, with those bids tentatively scheduled to be opened in January. TDOT could award a contract for the new bridge in February and construction, provided the necessary permits have been obtained, could now begin sometime in the spring.
The new bridge is expected to be realigned to the park side of the bridge, which is upstream from the current bridge, so that the state can avoid “the costly acquisition of several homes” downstream of the bridge in the other side.
Officials say the new bridge could feature four 12-foot-wide travel lanes and another 12-foot-wide center lane as well as two five-foot-wide sidewalks and will be about 20 feet wider than the current bridge.
This matter, and others, will be discussed when the Clinton City Council meets for its regular October meeting next Monday, October 30, at 5:30 p.m. at Clinton City Hall. The meeting was postponed from today (Monday, October 23) due to scheduling conflicts involving Council members and others.
WYSH Radio in Clinton is an Oak Ridge Today news partner.
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