The Highway 70 Caney Fork Bridge is NOW Open to Traffic

June 22, 2016
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162 days later, the US Highway 70 Caney Fork Bridge is finally back open to traffic.

The US 70 North (SR 24) bridge over the Caney Fork River in Smith County, which was closed to traffic in January, has reopened.

There will be additional work on the bridge deck, which will take place during the day on weekdays, but the bridge will remain open to traffic.

The bridge was closed after multiple cracks developed on several pier caps. Through engineering and inspection work, TDOT determined that more steel was needed in the bridge’s support system. With the contractor, Concrete Structures Inc., working on an expedited schedule, the support work took approximately six months to complete. As a result of the weak pier caps, TDOT contractors contracted walls underneath the bridge to support the existing piers.

TDOT is working with the Federal Highway Administration to determine how the bridge repairs will be funded.

With the bridge being reopened, it should help traffic congestion at the I-40 exit in Gordonsville.

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">One of the first vehicles to cross the Hwy. 70 Caney Fork Bridge <a href="https://t.co/HJXwDmazd5">pic.twitter.com/HJXwDmazd5</a></p>— Smith County Insider (@SmithCoInsider) <a href="https://twitter.com/SmithCoInsider/status/745645990439329792">June 22, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BG9ikyFBCjM/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">The Highway 70 Caney Fork Bridge is NOW OPEN to traffic!</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by SmithCountyInsider.com (@smithcountyinsider) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2016-06-22T15:20:24+00:00">Jun 22, 2016 at 8:20am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>