In a hastily called press conference on Wednesday, Mayor Kincannon gave the anticipated Gay Street Bridge update that no one wanted to hear: The Gay Street Bridge will never again be open to vehicular traffic. While there is some silver lining with the plans to restore pedestrian and cycling traffic within the next year, the word is a blow to businesses along Sevier Avenue and a great disappointment to everyone, particularly south Knoxville residents, who relied on the bridge to cross the river. (You can view the full press conference below.)
Mayor Kincannon began by noting that the bridge was completed in 1898, a time in which a crossing automobile would have been rare. The traffic on the bridge would have been primarily pedestrian and horse or horse and wagon, a much lighter load than modern automobiles. (Check out the Knoxville History Project website for a history of the bridge.) Additionally, the expected lifespan of a bridge of this type would be seventy-to-eighty years, so at 127, the structure has done well.
In the core of her remarks, Kincannon said:
The bridge is never going to be able to resume everyday traffic . . . we are glad, however, to announce that we do expect to be able to reopen it to pedestrians and cyclists . . . and after an additional load bearing evaluations and analysis, we also hope to be able to open it to emergency vehicles and the KAT bus on a limited-control basis.
She said the repairs required to return the bridge to a level of safe use for pedestrians should be $2,000,000 or less and that money will be requested from city council in early March. Contractors are ready and repairs could begin immediately, with the hope of having the bridge open to pedestrians and cyclists by the end of the year or in early 2026. The repairs will be completed from a barge beneath the bridge. The long process of approvals, funding, and construction of a replacement bridge will begin immediately, with an estimate of five-to-ten years to make that a reality. It will require large amounts of federal and state funding and support.
When asked whether the bridge would be replaced because of the expense of the repairs or because it is irreparable, representatives of the engineering department said repair would be prohibitively expensive, requiring the top to be removed and the arches to be replaced one at a time and then a new system of redundancy would have to be included. Redundancy (if one part of the bridge fails, other parts survive) was not a consideration in the late nineteenth century. A starting point would be $50,000,000.
Councilmember Tommy Smith takes the bridge personally. Representing South Knoxville, and living there, he has both personally experienced the absence of the bridge and has heard from south Knoxville business owners how much its loss has hurt them. He told me, “Everybody who uses the bridge has a right to be mad and disappointed. I am, too. I used it daily and feel the disruption.” He said he considers it a Knoxville icon on the order of the Sunsphere or any other identifier.
Still, he said after having time to absorb the news himself, he sees it as something that was inevitable and feels we should make the most of this interim period and get it open to pedestrians as quickly as possible. “Safety is number one, but second is to get it back open for daily use by pedestrians. There is no easy way to lose this and that’s what we’re working through.”
He pointed to the plans underway to make a greenway across the south Knoxville bridge, pedestrian traffic reopening on Gay Street and the coming pedestrian bridge all as encouragement for what will be: Five bridges with pedestrian accessibility. He said we need to be as aggressive as safely possible to get the pedestrian traffic underway on the Gay Street Bridge and then as aggressive on moving toward a replacement.
He said the city is committed to helping businesses on Sevier Avenue and that he’s had discussions with those involved in Cumberland and Central Street Streetscapes projects to see what problems emerged and how they might do better for Sevier Avenue. He said city council will soon vote on $30,000 dollars designed to help with events, marketing, and signage along the stretch. “We are doing what we can do to help that corridor.”
Smith said the current projection on the various projects is as follows:
- Gay Street Bridge Reopens to Pedestrians: 1 year
- Sevier Avenue Streetscapes Completed: 1.5 years
- James White Pedestrian Dedicated Lanes: 2-3 years
- Pedestrian Bridge at UT: 5 years
- Gay Street Bridge Replacement: 10 years
If you’d like to follow the bridge announcements more closely, the city posts them here. And, as promised, here is the entire press conference in case you want to take the deep dive: