By Dorothy Foster
Correspondent
OCOEE, Tenn. — She already knew a problem existed. That’s why Vanessa Bateman, TDOT geologist and civil engineer manager, was in Ocoee last November with a crew studying the way the slide plane jutted onto U.S. Highway 64.
Then the rock started across the highway from Ocoee Dam No. 2, cracking and popping, Ms. Bateman said.
“It sounded like a big car door slamming,” she said.
The mountainside collapsed across the highway. Two other slides followed, and it took more than five months to clear the blockage.
Ms. Bateman was there for the whole process, leaving her home in Franklin, Tenn., at 3:45 a.m. several times a week to get there at the start of the work day.
She was among a number of women Tennessee Department of Transportation crew members who helped stabilize the mountain and reopen U.S. 64.
Responsible for a territory that extends from Memphis to Crossville and Polk County, Ms. Bateman works partly out of a Nashville office and partly in the field on projects such as geologic foundations for roads and bridges, core drilling, landslides and other geologic hazards.
Her supervisor, Len Oliver, said he appreciates Ms. Bateman’s dedication and the way she wants to make certain the job gets done right.
“We’re so proud of Vanessa. She definitely did a great job for TDOT, and the public and we are looking forward to her returning to the office,” Mr. Oliver said.
Glenda Hamby and Cherril Redmond worked everything from traffic control to driving dump trucks and loaders, learning by doing on the job.
“Road work is considered a man’s area, but I felt I could do it,” Ms. Hamby said.
Dorothy Smith, an 18-year TDOT veteran, can operate any large piece of equipment around. Polk County Maintenance Superintendent Steve Jones said she’s good to work with.
“We think a lot alike in planning the work, and if I have to go somewhere she takes care of it,” he said.
During several winter snows, Ms. Smith worked around the clock to clear roads.
“We just caught some sleep in the cab of the truck when we could,” she said.
Working in the same place for months, the women said there were unexpected kindnesses.
TDOT personnel brought food for Thanksgiving and Christmas, since the work was nonstop.
They are grateful to the U.S. Forest Service for allowing them to set up trailers in which to take breaks.
One woman brought them yogurt.
But all the women also recall stories of frustrated drivers who just didn’t want to hear they couldn’t keep going.
“There were cyclists coming in from Murphy (N.C.) and kayakers who had to get out of the river and turn around and walk back,” Ms. Bateman said.
Even with the road closed and the flaggers telling people they couldn’t come through, “everybody and their dog still wanted to,” she laughed.
WHAT’S NEXT
TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely will speak Friday at a grand reopening party set for 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Ocoee Whitewater Center.