Oak Ridge Today

Repair work done, Johnson Gap Road bridge open again

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Johnson Gap Road Bridge

The repair work is down, and the Johnson Gap Road bridge re-opened last week. (Photo by Robert McKamey)

 

Information from WYSH Radio

The bridge on Johnson Gap Road in Anderson County’s Dutch Valley community re-opened last week, a year and a half after it was shut down due to safety concerns.

State inspectors ordered the 100-year-old wooden bridge closed in July 2013 after finding that the wooden support structures were compromised and posed a safety hazard.

The bridge is owned by CSX Railroad, and it is the primary shortcut that Dutch Valley residents use to get to and from Clinton and Oak Ridge, and the shutdown frustrated many.

Work to repair the bridge finally got under way last month.

Johnson Gap Road bridge being repaired

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Johnson Gap Road Bridge

The Johnson Gap Road Bridge is pictured above closed on January 1, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari) 

 

Information from WYSH Radio

Note: This story was updated at 12:45 p.m. Feb. 3.

Work on the long-awaited project to repair the CSX Railroad-owned bridge on Johnson Gap Road in the Dutch Valley community has finally begun.

Anderson County Commission Chairman Robert McKamey told WYSH Radio in Clinton that the railroad has assured him the work should be done within the next three to four weeks.

Crews on Monday began the long-awaited repair of the bridge. [Read more…]

Ex-AC school bus driver indicted in May 2013 crash

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Information from WYSH Radio

A former Anderson County school bus driver has been indicted on charges related to a bus crash last year that injured four students.

Tammy Moore, 46, of Clinton was indicted by the grand jury on a charge of reckless endangerment and reckless driving in connection to a crash that occurred on May 21, 2013. Her bus, with 44 students aboard, was on Johnson Gap Road when the bus left the right side of the road and dropped off an embankment and turned over on to its side after traveling some 60 yards. [Read more…]

Rail company offers county two bridge replacement options

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Information from WYSH Radio

CSX Railroad Corp. has given the Anderson County government options on how to address the issues that have kept a railroad-owned bridge on a county road closed since July.

The bridge on Johnson Gap Road—which is the shortest route between Clinton and the Dutch Valley community—has been closed since July 13, when Tennessee Department of Transportation inspectors determined that the wooden bridge supports were no longer safe.

CSX has offered to rebuild the old wooden bridge with a five-ton weight limit at its own expense or allow the county to replace it with a concrete structure. County officials estimate that a concrete bridge would likely cost the county around $450,000. [Read more…]

Johnson Gap Road bridge repair, replacement under study

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Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager has offered an update on the status of the Johnson Gap Road Bridge, owned by CSX Railroad and closed since earlier this year due to structural concerns found by the state during a routine investigation.

The bridge is owned by the railroad, and it is the only entity that can legally make the repairs and get the bridge back open. Many people in that area, which is northwest of Clinton, depend on that bridge to get to and from their homes.

The latest update, according to Yeager, is that the bridge replacement or repair is under analysis by CSX’s property asset division. No decisions have been made. Yeager says that he has spoken to railroad officials three times by telephone and in several emails. [Read more…]

Johnson Gap Road railroad bridge closed

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Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County Road Superintendent Gary Long announced Friday that the railroad bridge on Johnson Gap Road will be closed until further notice while railroad crews make safety-related repairs. Johnson Gap Road is between Sulphur Springs and Dutch Valley roads northeast of Oak Ridge.

Video: Driver of school bus that crashed not forced off road

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Information from WYSH Radio

The driver of an Anderson County school bus that crashed last week has been suspended until further notice after the in-bus camera recording shows that she was not forced off the road by an oncoming car veering into her lane as she had originally told investigators.

Last Tuesday, the bus carrying 43 children overturned in a grassy field off of Johnson Gap Road. Immediately after the crash, driver Tammy Moore told investigators that she had swerved to avoid an oncoming car that had veered into her lane, causing the tires on the right side of the bus to leave the roadway. The bus traveled about 200 more feet before rolling onto its side. [Read more…]

Anderson County school bus rolls on side, three students possibly injured

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Note: This story was updated at 1:57 p.m.

An Anderson County school bus rolled on its side on Johnson Gap Road on Tuesday morning in the Dutch Valley community, and five students could have minor injuries, officials said.

There were 44 students on Bus No. 20, which transports students to Dutch Valley Elementary School, Clinton Middle School, and Clinton High School, said Jim Woodward, chief financial officer for Anderson County Schools. It crashed at Dutch Valley Road at about 7:50 a.m. [Read more…]

Powell man charged with attempted murder in brother’s shooting

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Jamie Lynn Lowe

Jamie Lynn Lowe

Note: This story was updated at 9:54 a.m.

A Powell man has been charged with attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault in the shooting of his brother on Johnson Gap Road on Feb. 1, authorities said.

Jamie Lynn Lowe, 30, of Powell, was arrested Tuesday at a home on Mehaffey Road in Claxton on a fugitive from justice warrant for a parole violation in Michigan, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said in a Thursday morning press release. Warrants for the new charges were served at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Wednesday.

Lowe’s brother, Jeffery Allen Lowe, 28, was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with a potentially life-threatening wound after the Feb. 1 shooting at their mother’s home on Johnson Gap Road near Clinton, authorities said.

[Read more…]

Man has possible life-threatening injury after Friday shooting

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A 28-year-old man was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with a potentially life-threatening wound after a Friday morning shooting on Johnson Gap Road in Anderson County, authorities said.

The condition of Jeffery Allen Lowe was not available, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said in a brief statement Friday afternoon.

The shooting occurred at about 10:42 a.m. Friday at 154 Johnson Gap Road, and Lowe was flown to the UT hospital by a Lifestar helicopter, Lucas said.

[Read more…]