Marion County Commissioner Louin Campbell, right, and assessor Judy Brewer walk across the old span after TDOT closed the Highway 41 bridge across the Tennessee River at Haletown on Monday. TDOT allowed people to walk across after a closing ceremony Monday, but the bridge will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians as work progresses to build a replacement next to it. The metal bridge will be dismantled and removed.CHECK THE ROUTE
For travel and construction information, visit the TDOT SmartWay website at www.tn.gov/tdot/tdotsmartway or call 511 from any land line or cellphone. Traffic alerts also are available via TDOT’s multiple Twitter feeds, including statewide traffic tweets @TN511 or Chattanooga area alerts @Chattanooga511. Smartphone users can use the TDOT SmartWay Mobile website to see TDOT’s SmartWay cameras and information on construction-related lane closures and incidents.
HALETOWN, Tenn. — When the 1929-era Marion Memorial Bridge was dedicated, 5-year-old Madge Knight Boggild rode in the back of a Ford Model T truck as it became the first vehicle to cross the newly built span across the Tennessee River in Marion County.
On Monday, she was in the last vehicle to cross the public bridge.
Boggild, 87 and the youngest of 10 children, said her oldest brother, Sam, was driving the truck that day with their mother and grandmother riding in the cab and the younger folks sitting around the bed on quilts with their legs hanging over the side.
“Everyone was invited, free of charge,” she said, noting the road at each end of the bridge was dirt, not yet asphalt.