Tennessee Bridge Provides Missing Link for Foothills Parkway
The $24.8-million Foothills Parkway Bridge No. 2 project provides the final 1.6-mile "missing link" for Tennessee's Foothills Parkway, located near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Due to the site's mountainous terrain and limited access, the project team opted for a top-down approach to bridge erection. Utilizing a straddle carrier supported on a temporary work bridge, crews erected the bridge's concrete segments using a balanced cantilever approach. This eliminated the environmental impact of building an access road through a national forest.
The 790-ft-long, S-shaped bridge consists of 92 precast bridge segments, reaching a maximum span length of 185 ft. A typical segment weighs 50 tons.
Award of Merit, Highway-Bridge Projects: Foothills Parkway Bridge No. 2, Wears Valley, Tenn.
Key Players
Contractor Bell & Associates Construction LP, Brentwood, Tenn.
Owner Federal Highway Administration – Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division, Sterling, Va.
Engineer Corven Engineering, Tallahassee, Fla.
