Good question. I bet they have a really good plan, but I haven't looked into it. The closest I've come to getting work in Knoxville was the culvert analysis at Neyland, but it didn't work out. The company I worked for at the time fired our most experienced hydraulic engineer, which ended any hopes of that happening. I'm still kind of bitter about it. Would have been a dream to work on that.
Just announced:
The City of Knoxville has been awarded a $24.7 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help realize the South Knoxville Pedestrian Bridge.
This was the City’s third application for the grant to help support the pedestrian bridge project, a project born out of community input and the South Waterfront Vision Plan more than 15 years ago.
"We are so excited to have secured the next round of funding to make the South Knoxville Pedestrian Bridge a reality," said Mayor Indya Kincannon. "The federal RAISE grant, coupled with the $20 million from the state, will now propel this project to the next stage. I am grateful to the key partners who have committed to seeing this project through.
"RAISE grants are awarded for transportation and infrastructure projects that could have a profound community impact, and that’s exactly what this project will do by enhancing safety and connectivity."
Here are the architect drawings:
The city will be using this to push South Knoxville development. There is already a plan to put a park on the south side that could produce very nice tail gaiting similar to the Grove at Ole Miss. There will be a pedestrian walkway on the North side by Thompson Boling heading directly to Gate 10 and the South ramp. I expect there will a lot invested in parking both by the city and private industry. This is very exciting.
No I’m actually an MSU grad, but I’d be happy to give him some pointers if needed. It’s great that he’s already involved with ASCE. Tell him to shoot me an email if he has questions about the industry. bjpalmer@garverusa.com. Can also find me on LinkedIn (Blake Palmer) although I don’t check that very often. I’ve got some stuff on YouTube if he’s interested in hydraulic modeling. The channel is called River Geeks, but I haven’t posted anything in about a year because having 4 kids between the ages of 1 & 8 is HARD. Not much time for hobbies these days!
FWIW, the French put in about 8 years on it before giving up due to money and deaths, but the paperwork, studies, etc, etc are likely gonna push the timeline out. Now that money is secured, I imagine they have to finalize plans, do engineering work, request for proposal, award the contract, blah blah blah. I can't imagine the actual construction piece will take as long as the planning phase.
I'll share this with him. He's been out several years. I've worked with some MSU engineers over the years and they were top notch. Also worked with some Georgia Tech guys as well. A couple of those were a little different, but I think a good school is a start, but after you get out, it sometimes boils down to the individual rather than the school. Thank you for sharing that email. Max is on Linkin and I am too (Paul Carter, Huntsville) . GO VOLS.
