Rating:
8 votes

Gay Street Bridge

Knox County, Tennessee
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Gay Street Bridge

Knoxville's Oldest Bridge, a Spandrel-braced (cantilever) arch bridge built in 1897. View looking southbound

Photo taken by Calvin Sneed in May 2008

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Map 

Street Views 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Pratt deck-arched cantilevered truss over the Tennessee River on Gay Street
Location
Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1897, reconditioned 2004
Builder
- Youngstown Bridge Co. of Youngstown, Ohio
Design
A spandrel-braced (cantilever) arch bridge with concrete deck, the only bridge of its type in Tennessee.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 252.0 ft.
Total length: 1,486.0 ft.
Deck width: 29.8 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 18.6 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.95982, -83.91527   (decimal degrees)
35°57'35" N, 83°54'55" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/237084/3983421 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Knoxville
Inventory numbers
TN 47L37750003 (Tennessee bridge number)
TN 47L37750001 (Tennessee bridge number)
BH 32587 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 06/2014)
Deck condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 67.6 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2016)
8,910

Categories 

19th Century (6,139)
Arch (11,137)
Built 1897 (196)
Built during 1890s (2,450)
Cantilevered (290)
Deck arch (10,380)
Have street view (21,749)
Knox County, Tennessee (52)
Knoxville, Tennessee (34)
NR-listed (2,837)
Open (36,260)
 Owned by city (4,454)
Pin-connected (3,144)
Preserved (1,050)
Riveted (1,859)
Skewed (4,663)
Span length 250-500 feet (1,075)
Steel arch (340)
Tennessee (1,020)
Tennessee River (35)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,641)
Youngstown Bridge Co. (21)

Update Log 

  • September 5, 2016: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added categories "Pin-connected", "Riveted"
  • July 12, 2015: Updated by Bob Davis: Added category "Tennessee River"
  • March 2, 2014: New photo from Jack Schmidt
  • November 18, 2013: New photo from Shane Passmore
  • July 12, 2010: Updated by Calvin Sneed: Reoriented Street View to cross bridge
  • April 14, 2010: New Street View added by Nathan Holth
  • February 27, 2009: Updated by Bob Davis: Added coordinates
  • August 3, 2008: Updated by Calvin Sneed
  • July 4, 2008: Updated by Calvin Sneed

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Calvin Sneed - us43137415 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Bob Davis - bobdaviscfi [at] earthlink [dot] net
  • Nathan Holth
  • Shane Passmore - aa5te [dot] kb5ehr [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
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Comments 

Gay Street Bridge
Posted October 19, 2008, by Bob Davis (bobdaviscfi [at] earthlink [dot] net)

This bridge was extensively overhauled circa 2005 with Federal fundingand modified for safety by reducing the number of lanes and adding the new lighting and concrete curbing. It is the oldest of the four vehicle bridges in Knoxville across the Tennessee River (Fourt Loudon Lake) along with one railroad bridge.