There is no "Henley Street Bridge."

The press release is from The City of Knoxville, David Massey, Neighborhood Coordinator, 865-215-3232.

For what it's worth, my family moved to Sevier Ave. in South Knoxville in 1955 when I was about six months old. We and everyone we knew called it the Henley St. bridge. It was the one just down the river from the Gay St. bridge.

But y'all can call it whatever you want, and should probably skip this meeting because it's apparently about a different project than the one you're thinking of.

P.S. I guess there's no Alcoa Highway bridge, either. It's the Buck Karnes bridge. So not sure where they are talking about diverting traffic to.

Yeah, I was born and raised in K-Town. We always called it the Henley Street Bridge. I think people like to change the names of things for some reason. It's like people calling Fort Loudon Lake, Lake Loudon. Sounds much better doesn't it.

Either way, it sounds like there will be no bridge across the river at Chapman Hwy for three years. Yowza. It should be interesting to see the detour. I'm guessing they'll have to detour to that there South Knoxville Bridge. What do they call it? Everyone will be so thankful it was built along with that nasty road that destroyed so much of South Knoxville.

Does anyone wonder if the powers that be should have done some work on the Chapman Hwy bridge a long time ago? Maybe if that had happened it would not require a 3 year closing.

Buck Karnes.

Three years is a long time.

If they detonated the thing and literally "rebuilt" the bridge, how long would that take?

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

The environmental impact study and public hearings would probably take three years.

Here's a photo of the plaque and some facts and history. According to the plaque, it was built in two years in 1930-1931.

(The entry is called the "Henley Street Bridge.")

How about a litle less nitpicking about the name and a little more brainstorming about how to get incentives for early completion.

__________________________
quicker construction, less nitpicking

Is there a Henley Rail Bridge anywhere? (I'm wondering if there was a distinction to be drawn between a "street bridge" and a "rail bridge," anyway. Think "inkpen" versus "pen.")

____________________________

Calling to the underworld. Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls.

What's going to be the route to move traffic from the Western Ave./Cumberland Ave. area over to the James White Parkway?

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Henley to Become 'Bridge to Nowhere' (Part I)
You can't get there from here on "nowhere bridge"

From APB reports. KNOXVILLE - The City of Knoxville will hold a public meeting at a time to be determined at a location yet to be revealed to discuss the closing of the Henley Bridge at some undefined point in the future.

The City's chief traffic engineer will present a project overview and recommendations on how travelers to and from South Knoxville deal with any "minor inconveniences" arising from closing for 3 years the main traffic artery to south Knox County. Officials of the Transferring of Dinero to the Order of Thoroughfare Constructors (TDOTC) group also will be on hand to obfuscate questions.

Rod Hodster, chief traffic engineer for the City of Knoxville, will provide the project overview as well as his recommendations for not getting there from here anymore. Among his recommendations is a proposal that "the area of South Knox severe all ties with the rest of Knoxville proper, declare itself an independent territory and threaten to protect itself by force from any encroachments on its sovereignty, examples of which include finger annexations and so-called representation on Knox County Commission."

The Henley Bridge carried an average 38,813 vehicles per day in 2008 over Fort Loudoun Lake, according to the city. Traffic will be diverted to the areas like Far Rockaway and Timbuktu, but most traffic will just turn around and go back where it came from rather than risk not getting there from here.

Representatives of nine South Knoxville neighborhood groups requested the meeting primarily to make a few perfunctory requests that TDOTC representatives explained are impossible to meet. The neighborhood groups then sighed in resignation as TDOTC revealed its plans for not getting there from here during the 3 years the bridge is closed.

As Travers Brickwall, TDOTC regional spokesperson, put it, "We build things that get people from place A to place B, and people from place B to place A, but people at place C - which is where the thing between places A and B will be built - aren't our concern, nor is how 'A' and 'B' people get there from here while we're building the thing..."

Part II:
(link...)

WBIR did a little research to clear up the confusion.

"Since the 1920s, it has been called both names. In our historical documents, including the plans and the designs for this bridge as well as media reports, it was called both the Henley Bridge and the Henley Street Bridge," said Martinez [Yvette Martinez, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Transportation].

"We wanted to be consistent and historically accurate in our communication for this project before it started. We called our historian at TDOT and asked her specifically, 'Is it the Henley Bridge or the Henley Street Bridge?' She said after investigation, it is both,"

"Not too many people get upset if you call it the Henley Bridge. It is only when you say Henley Street Bridge that you get a negative reaction."