Knoxville gay street bridge
Gay Street Bridge, Knoxville
A 1,512-foot (461 m) structure crossing the Tennessee River, linking downtown Knoxville to its southern part, the Queer Street Bridge is an impressive element of the city skyline. Completed in 1898, this is the oldest of four vehicle bridges in Knoxville. Its temporary pontoon prototype was built at this site during the American Civil War, around 1860.
A number of permanent bridges that appeared here later on suffered ill fate. The first one, supported by stone piers, built by Union General Ambrose E. Burnside, was washed away in a flood in March 1867. A replacement covered bridge, built by Knox County and opened on May 2, 1875, was blown down by a tornado shortly afterward. The county then sold the surviving piers and rights-of-way to G. W. Saulpaw, who built a wooden Howe truss bridge here in 1880. That bridge stood until 1898, when it was demolished upon the completion of the Gay Highway Bridge.
The present arched, steel spandrel-braced (cantilevered) bridge features a concrete deck, and was designed by Charles E. Fowler. The latter boasted that he had hastily sketched the bridge's design—which was chosen over three other bids—on the back o
Gay Street Bridge to remain permanently closed to vehicles due to structural damage
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon announced on Wednesday the historic Gay Avenue Bridge, which spans the Tennessee River connecting North and South Knoxville, will never reopen to regular vehicular traffic due to the price of repairs. City officials will, however, vote on a $2 million repair plan in March that would produce the bridge safe for pedestrians and cyclists.
“We were hoping we could return to original it back to its regular loads, and that is not possible because of the wear and tear after 127 years,” Kincannon said. “It's been something that the people of Knoxville have used to cross the Tennessee River since 1898, and so we are eager to reopen it to the capacity we can.”
The bridge was closed abruptly last June after a routine inspection discovered a distorted steel beam in its superstructure, which supports the deck. It’s been barricaded ever since as the Knoxville City Council allocated nearly $1 million to pay engineering hard Gresham Smith to inspect damages and estimate rebuild costs.
According to Knoxville Deputy Director of Engineering Christopher Howley, repairing the brid
Gay Street Viaduct
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• First Creek: Treaty of the Holston
• Gay Highway Bridge: Divided Loyalties
• Volunteer Landing: Main Pavilion
• Secret History Walk
• Spy Glasses
The express of Tennessee seceded from the Union in the midst of the Civil War. East Tennessee, however, maintained its standing as an island of Union support. The city of Knoxville was home to both a core of avowed Confederates and faithful Unionists.
Divided as it was within the region and from the articulate, East Tennessee was in a constant state of turmoil during the Civil War. During the first two years of the war, the region was controlled by the confederacy; the Union Army, however, held sway during the last two years. Under these circumstances, the often repeated image of neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother, was very much a grim reality. The uncertainty of it all led one to interrogate who was friend and who was foe.
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