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Sullivan won�t ask TDOT to save steel truss bridge

Published March 18th, 2008 | 0 Comments

Sullivan County won�t ask the state to salvage steel truss-work from a Highway 75 bridge set for demolition.

And the county won�t urge state lawmakers to funnel any �excess� lottery dollars to K-12 building projects for local-level school systems.

The Sullivan County Commission rejected both those proposals Monday.

Opposition to the bridge proposal centered around �what then� questions � if the state saved the bridge�s framework, where would the dismantled parts be kept or used, and who would pay for hauling them, storing them, or installing them at another location?

There weren�t clear answers to any of those questions, but proponents of salvaging the bridge were not asking for any county money. Their primary goal in asking that the bridge be dismantled, rather than demolished, was to save the parts for possible use in and around the Blountville Historic District.

The circa 1936 structure spans the Fort Patrick Henry Lake reservoir � just below Boone Dam � on Highway 75.

It�s scheduled for removal to make way for a road-widening project on Highway 75, according to the resolution voted down by the County Commission.

While it is a longer span, old photographs and drawings show the bridge on Highway 75 is similar in style and design to a circa 1916 bridge over Muddy Creek on State Route 126 on the eastern approach to Blountville.

That�s where Anita Buchanan Long and others involved in long-range planning for the Historic District want to install part of the framework from the Highway 75 bridge.

When some commissioners questioned who would pay for such a project, County Planning Director Ambre Torbett said placement of bridge components on a state route would be a state project.

�I don�t see how the county would be asked to put up any money for that,� Torbett said.

County Commissioner Dennis Houser was primary sponsor of the resolution which, if approved, would have asked the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to salvage the bridge�s framework.

Houser amended the proposal before Monday�s vote. He said the wording change was meant to �put the monkey on the back of TDOT.�

County Mayor Steve Godsey said TDOT would not agree to reuse the bridge � which he said was slated to be torn down and replaced due to its condition � on a state road anywhere.

County Highway Commissioner Allan Pope said salvaging the bridge for reuse would require taking it apart piece by piece and cataloging the pieces in order to ever reassemble it. Pope said he was confident TDOT would not undertake such a project.

Houser�s amended proposal failed by a vote of 12 �no� to 9 �yes,� with three commissioners absent. It needed 13 �yes� votes for approval.

The proposal on how to spend excess lottery dollars failed by the same vote count: 12-9. It, too, needed 13 �yes� votes for approval.

It would have asked state legislators to support a proposed law to require all �excess lottery funds above $250 million� be earmarked and funneled to county and/or city school systems across Tennessee.

The idea: Use lottery money that�s left over each year � after college scholarships are funded to all eligible students � for other purposes.

Why it didn�t fly when it came for a commission vote Monday: The biggest question wasn�t the overall concept of using the money for educational purposes other than college scholarships � but whether the right choice for that spending is K-12 building projects.

Commissioners who voted �no� on the proposal said state lawmakers � and Gov. Phil Bredesen � are floating several different plans for using excess lottery dollars, including a call to spend the money to improve and expand pre-kindergarten education across the state.

Commissioner Eddie Williams was primary sponsor of the resolution to declare county support for spending excess lottery money on K-12 building projects.

Williams and others who voted for the resolution said expansion of pre-K programs already has been detrimental to operation of church and community day-care centers, threatening their viabilit y.
Some who voted �no� said the proposal smacked of being a political gesture aimed against the governor�s plan.

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