“Hurry up and wait” might be an apt summary of progress toward reopening Blount County’s covered bridges, since they were closed for repairs in the summer of 2009.

The bridges were closed indefinitely by the Blount County Commission at the recommendation of county engineer Richard Spraggins. Spraggins recommended the closings for safety reasons because all three bridges failed to meet a load requirement test of 3 tons, based on a structural analysis conducted in early 2009.

Spraggins said completing the repairs depends on a process of submitting complete restoration plans to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) for approval before bids can be let for construction. That approval process has proved to be lengthy.

Blount County submitted the first iteration of plans for approval to DOT last April. They were returned with required changes identified in June. The county engineering office made the changes and resubmitted the plans for for approval in August.

They were not returned by DOT until November, Spraggins said, and there were more changes required on the second iteration than on the first. The second round of changes will be resubmitted again by the middle of this month, he said.

See BRIDGE, pg A3

“We have to have their approval in order to get the money released from Washinton to pay for the construction work we need to do,” Spraggins said. “It’s like what you used to run into on the playground. ‘If you’re gonna play with my ball, you gotta play by my rules’ and that’s the situation we’re in. In order to get their money, which has already been set aside for the project, we have to play by their rules.”

Spraggins said he hopes to have final approval to proceed with construction by mid- to late-February. If that happens, the commission could authorize letting bids in the March business meeting. A three-week period is required for advertising the bid, and a 45-day period is customary before construction could begin.

In this scenario, construction could begin as early as June, with the time required for completion estimated at eight to nine months. By that schedule, the bridges could be reopened in early 2012, barring unforeseen circumstances or further approval delays.