The Tennessee Department of Transportation has awarded an emergency contract to repair State Route 30 near log mile 7.5 in Bledsoe County. The road in this area has been steadily deteriorating for several months as the result of a slope failure, and traffic has been utilizing one lane under temporary signal control.
The $1.6 million contract was awarded to Dement Construction Company, LLC of Jackson, Tn. The contract includes excavating, stabilizing and rebuilding the road.
Due to the magnitude of the project, the contractor will close SR-30 to all traffic at the project site beginning on Monday.
The closure will be in effect through July 31 to allow the contractor enough room to make the necessary repairs to the road. On Aug. 1 the road will be opened to one lane under the control of a temporary traffic signal. The road will remain in this configuration through the month of August, after which it will be reopened to two lanes. The estimated completion date for the entire project is Aug. 31.
Detours will be posted during the closure of SR-30. Traffic on SR-30 north of the closure will be rerouted onto SR-30 West to Spencer and then onto SR-111 South to Dunlap then onto U.S. 127 North toward Pikeville. Traffic south of the closure will be rerouted onto U.S. 127 South to Dunlap and then onto SR-111 North to Spencer and then onto SR-30 East toward Pikeville.
During the project, the contractor will excavate half of the road from the center to the outside and install a soil nail wall to shore up and hold the remaining road. Afterward, they will install a soldier pile wall on what will be the new outside edge of the road. Soldier piles are steel I-beams driven into the ground to help with soil retention. Normally timber lagging is used between the soldier piles to shore up the wall. However, to expedite the project, the contactor will instead use concrete wall panels between the soldier piles.
Once the soldier pile wall is built, the contractor will backfill the area using graded solid rock, installing drainage where necessary. After the road is built back up to grade, the contractor will pave it, stripe it and install guardrail.