March 26, 1892, Saturday, Knoxville Daily Tribune, No. 7943, page 8, column 1, “The Work Begins,(on the Marietta and North Georgia RR Bridge, four piers, 90 feet highest pier, longest span will be 280 feet,)” “The bridge proper will consist of two deck spans and one through span, the latter will be the longest, and will be of enormous proportions. It will be 280 feet long, and will be 50 feet high, the two end spans will be 210 feet long, and will connect with the trestle approaches. The trestle approaches will be of wood, but of a most substantial character.”
Isen't the "Description" section misleading as it obviously is referring to the bridge this one replaced? It does look as if the piers from the 1893 bridge were used in the current bridge with concrete extensions raising their height.
I would like to give credit to Tony Skeen who provided the built date on a local history facebook page He says, "It was actually built in 1934. Dad was working for the L&N in the engineering department downtown when they did that."
This is the original L&N Railroad bridge across the Tennessee at Knoxville built in 1903. It was planned by the Knoxville Southern. Efforts by the Marietta and North Georgia and the Atlanta, Knoxville and Northern (AK&N) built the bridge. L&N got control of the AK&N and the Knoxville, LaFollette and Jellico to complete the L&N from Louisville to Atlanta using this bridge in 1904. At the same time the L&N's Knoxville Passenger Depot was being built and opened in 1905. Online see Rule's History of Knoxville at http://knoxcotn.org/about-knox-county/31-history/18-history-...
I think it would look a lot better and might last longer if it were painted I'd also like to see it used for pedestrian traffic during football games . You could even paint it orange and White!