KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Gay Street Bridge in downtown Knoxville is closed following a routine inspection. The Tennessee Department of Transportation said crew members found a critical issue.
Nearly 7,000 drivers go across this bridge every single day, according to TDOT, which doesn’t account for people who walk or jog on the bridge.
The Henley Bridge is open as a detour, but going that route will add about 7 minutes to most people's trips.
“Today, I had to go all the way around. I like to walk the bridge also,” said William Fontenot, who lives in Knoxville. "That's too bad."
Fontenot said he uses the bridge every single day. Randy Sherritze, who also lives in Knoxville, said the closure was unexpected.
“It caught me by surprise,” Sherritze said. “Made me late, actually.”
On Tuesday, TDOT Spokesperson Mark Nagi said crew members performed a routine annual inspection.
“Our inspectors found that there was a distortion of steel member of the truss, and that was a critical finding. So the decision was made at that time to close the bridge to vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” Nagi said. “We will not allow any bridge, any road, whatever it may be — we won't allow it to be open if we feel that it could present a potential danger to the motoring public. So that's why the decision was made to close the bridge.”
A truss is one of the blue steel triangles underneath the road on the Gay Street Bridge. Nagi said right now, the crew is working on a more detailed inspection to assess the damage.
“After the determination is made as to what repairs are going to be necessary, then we should have more of a gauge on a timeline for when the bridge could possibly reopen,” Nagi said. “This is a city of Knoxville owned and operated bridge, so this is something that we're going to be working very closely with them on.”
The bridge is owned by Knoxville, and leaders said the city has an emergency budget that might be used to fund the repair. At this time, the city and TDOT don't have a cost estimate.
“We're working very closely with the city of Knoxville to get that bridge back open as quickly as possible,” Nagi said. “But again, safety is the top priority.”
That priority is the motivation behind those routine inspections.
“Remember, this is an old bridge. I mean, it was built in the late 1890s so we had some major repairs to the bridge 20 years ago. We've continued to have this bridge inspected on an annual basis, and this is why we do these inspections,” Nagi said. “The last thing that we want is a bridge to be in disrepair. The last thing we want is to be in a situation where, you know, it could be dangerous to either motorists or pedestrians. So this is important work that our crews do across the state each and every day.”
It’s work that Fontenot said he’s grateful for.
“At least they caught it,” Fontenot said. “And, you know, we don't need any accidents happening. That's for sure.”
This bridge is the oldest spanning the Tennessee River in Knoxville, according to the city. It was built in 1898. In 2004, the city, state and federal government spent nearly $16 million on an improvement project. Since then, the city said it has passed every inspection report until Tuesday.
The city said since that improvement project, the bridge has never been closed because of safety maintenance.
The Federal Highway Administration surveyed more than 20,000 bridges across Tennessee in 2023. It found that 42% of bridges were in good condition, 53% in fair condition and 4% in poor condition. Using that data, US News says Tennessee ranks 12th in the nation for bridge quality.