Construction begins Monday on O&W Road bridge rebuild
Contracts being signed today between county and contractor
HUNTSVILLE | Contracts will be signed today (Wednesday) between Scott County and King General Contracting to replace a bridge over Pine Creek on O&W Road, and construction is scheduled to begin Monday.
That was the update from Scott County Road Superintendent Kelvin King to county commissioners at their Monday meeting. The Scott County Finance Committee awarded a construction bid to the Cookeville-based construction company last month. The plan is for the new bridge to be completed before winter.
The bridge, located just west of O&W Road’s intersection with Toomey Road outside Oneida near the boundary of the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area, has been closed for about a year after the TN Dept. of Transportation condemned it following an annual inspection. The one-lane bridge is one of three original bridges that remain on the former railroad grade — with the other two being another bridge over Pine Creek further west, and the big bridge over the Big South Fork River. All three were constructed in 1915 as the railroad was built, and are the oldest bridges in Scott County.
Scott County Mayor Jerried Jeffers told commissioners at Monday’s meeting that he had received a letter from the Tennessee Historical Commission that the big bridge over the river will be considered by a review board for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The county has sought that designation since a debate over the bridge’s future in 2023.
Meanwhile, King told commissioners that bids will be opened on the Niggs Creek Road bridge in High Point when the Finance Committee meets on Sept. 8. That bridge has been closed since Spring 2024 when it was also condemned by TDOT. Ostensibly, construction on that bridge could begin later this fall.
Both bridge replacement projects are being funded with state dollars from the IMPROVE Act.