Construction cost of bridge project nearly doubles since 2017

By Eddie West Staff Writer

Construction cost of a replacement bridge in the Enigma community has almost doubled since first proposed by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).

When the General Assembly met in January of 2017, former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam introduced what was termed the state’s “most ambitious transportation department infrastructure plan in the state’s history”.

Included on the list were 12 transportation projects located in Smith County. Most of the local projects were bridge replacements.

One of those projects was replacement of the bridge crossing Little Indian Creek on Webster Road, a county road.

At that time, TDOT estimated the bridge replacement project would cost $853,000.

While identified as one of the state’s most deficient bridges when first proposed, the Webster Road replacement bridge had not been engineered.

Eventually, the project made its way through a series of steps with TDOT.

In August of this year when the project was bid by the state’s transportation department.

Jones Brother Construction Company submitted the low bid for the project and awarded a contract at $1,683,933. 

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