Bridge construction to start in October

By LISA HOBBS Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Construction is scheduled to start on three McMinnville bridges in the next year and a half. The Beersheba Street Bridge will be the first to get a facelift with construction set to begin Oct. 21, about four months away.

Countdown and get ready as the Tennessee Department of Transportation has released a proposed schedule for the replacement of three bridges in Warren County. Two bridges will have one lane left open during construction, while the third, Westwood Bridge, will be completely closed, according to officials.

The information came from McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport after repeated questions from aldermen and residents about when bridge construction would begin.

The first bridge on the list is Beersheba Street Bridge over the Barren Fork River. Construction is scheduled to begin Oct. 21, 2006. One lane will be left open for traffic.

Beersheba Street Bridge will be slightly changed when the construction is complete. In order to leave one lane open, the new bridge will start off to one side.

Moving the placement of the bridge will help to straighten out the road and improve drainage, officials said. TDOT is still working out the details of purchasing the surrounding land from the city of McMinnville.

The second bridge to be replaced will be the Ernest Crouch Memorial Bridge over Big Hickory Creek on Morrison Street. Construction on the bridge is scheduled to start almost a year from now, June 8, 2007. One lane of the bridge will be left open for traffic.

As with the Beersheba Street Bridge, the new bridge will be built to one side in order to leave one lane open on the old bridge. The property around the bridge has already been purchased.

The third bridge, the one that all be closed, is the Fernando C. Boyd Sr. Bridge on Morrison Street over the Barren Fork River, better known as Westwood Bridge. Construction on the bridge is not scheduled until Nov. 21, 2007.

As for Westwood Bridge, because it will be closed completely the location will remain the same. Details about detours, as well as traffic control for all the bridges during construction, will be handled by TDOT.

Although McMinnville has no say in when or which bridges will be replaced, since they are owned by the state, elected officials are allowed input into what the city?s needs and wants are concerning the bridges.

Mayor Royce Davenport has requested Westwood Bridge be widened with a five-foot walkway for pedestrians, as well as a two-foot area for bicycle riders.

?They don?t have to give us that,? said Davenport, ?but I asked for it. Hopefully they will.?

The construction schedule is subject to change.