The Wilkes T. Thrasher Bridge is a 4-lane road bridge located in
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...
. It opened in 1955 as a two lane road after much pressure from Wilkes T. Thrasher, a prominent
Hamilton County Judge, to the
Federal Government. In the 1980's, the bridge was widened to four lanes. Traffic was rerouted via the neighboring C.B. Robinson Bridge carrying
State Route 319 (Du Pont Pkwy) and carries
Tennessee State Route 153
State Route 153 (SR 153) is a state highway in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It runs from Interstate 75/ U.S. Route 74 (I-75/US 74) a few miles east of the I-24 interchange, to US 27 just south of Soddy-Daisy. The route serves as a bypass ...
over the
Chickamauga Dam
The Chickamauga Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The dam is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal era initiativ ...
crossing the
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other name ...
. The bridge is highly unusual, Not only was it built directly on top of a dam, but it was built many years after the dam was built. A number of dams include bridge-like structures on them, that may be just for dam maintenance or may carry an actual highway. Typically however such structures are built at the same time as the dam. The Chickamauga Dam was built from 1936-1940. The bridge however was not built until 1954. The highly unusual design soars high above most of the dam to accommodate the height of the power house which it also passes over, and also to allow for maintenance vehicles on the dam below. Most structurally significant about the bridge itself are that many of the spans utilize a steel rigid-frame design. Steel rigid-frame bridges, particularly from the pre-1970 era when rivets were still used are extremely rare. Other spans on the bridge appear to be more traditional simple riveted deck plate girders and steel stringers.
References
Thrasher
Thrashers are a New World group of perching bird, passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family (biology), family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genus, genera.
T ...
Bridges over the Tennessee River
1955 establishments in Tennessee
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