Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer began his three day “TDOT Projects Tour” in Region 2 Monday and the first stop was in DeKalb County.
The Commissioner was joined by other TDOT representatives, State Senator Mae Beavers, State Representatives Terri Lynn Weaver and Mark Pody and officials of Massman Construction during a luncheon at the county complex and most traveled by bus or vans afterward to the construction site of the new Sligo bridge.
Upon arrival, each of the spectators donned hardhats, life jackets, and safety glasses and then boarded a barge for a ride on the lake to get an up close view of the construction.
“It’s a massive project and very complicated,” said Commissioner Schroer. “Deep water bridge work is very hard but we’ve got a good tour of what they’re doing and how they are doing it. Not being an engineer myself, this is a great educational time for me and some of the other people here to see what is going on. It’s a fun way for us to get out and meet people and see what is happening out in the communities,” he said.
“The project is going real well,” said Ken Flynn, Director of Operations for TDOT Region 2. ” Right now we’re on schedule and maybe just slightly ahead. We’re getting there. It’s looking real good. We’ve got all of our drill shafts into the lake completed and we’re starting to go up with the rest of our sub-structure. It’s a great milestone to get the in-water work complete. The next big challenge is how we’re going to set our steel so high up in the air,” said Flynn.
In April 2013, TDOT awarded the construction contract on Sligo bridge to the Massman Construction Company based in Kansas City, Missouri at $38,903, 917. The project is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2016.
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