JASPER, Tenn.-City officials have approved a bid to relocate the waterlines on both sides of the bridge on U.S. Highway 41 over the Tennessee River at Nickajack in Marion County.
The Jasper Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved a $179,660 bid from Chastain Construction Co. in Ooltewah to move the lines in preparation for a new bridge that will replace the current 82-year-old structure.
Gary Cosby of CTI Engineers Inc. said the job will require about 4,000 feet of pipe to be moved.
“On both sides of the river, we’ve got to get waterlines out of the way where they are going to be constructing the approaches [to the new bridge],” he said. “Our lines will not be accessible once construction begins, so that’s why we have to move them back.”
The existing waterline almost certainly would be damaged or destroyed in the construction, Cosby said.