The Tennessee Department of Transportation has awarded the State’s inaugural Progressive Design-Build contract to expedite the reconstruction of two bridges destroyed by Hurricane Helene.
This project will focus on rebuilding the Kinser Bridge along the Erwin Highway in Greene County and the river bridge along Highway 81 in Washington County, with a target date to open both bridges to traffic in June 2025.
The PDB approach is a contracting method involving a Design-Build Team (Contractor and Designer) early in project development fostering collaboration, allowing for acceleration through overlapping and concurrent activities, and promoting improved project risk management and cost control.
The contractor is also already beginning to prepare multiple work packages that will allow for early project site cleanup, removal of remaining bridge pieces, site preparation for construction, and acquisition of long lead items, such as bridge beams, all of which aid in accelerating the schedule.
Survey and Design are actively underway, and additional safety measures are being installed. Preparation to mobilize for early project site cleanup and removal of remaining bridge pieces within Right-of-Way is also underway.
Construction is expected to begin in January, and the current target to reopen both bridges to traffic is June 23 of 2025. Planned final project completion is scheduled for August 2025.
