A northbound car on U.S. Highway 41 encounters uneven pavement as Aetna Mountain continues to push the road toward the Tennessee River in Marion County. The pavement breakdown is 10 miles from Interstate 24 at Lookout Valley.SOIL NAILING: HOW IT WORKSSoil nailing is an on-site soil reinforcement technique in which metal tubes are put in the ground at intervals of three to six feet to increase the strength of the soil beneath the roadbed. As the bars are being drilled, grout is inserted into the hole to make sure the soil nail stays put. Solid bars are usually installed into pre-drilled holes and then grouted into place using a separate grout line, whereas hollow bars may be drilled and grouted simultaneously by the use of a sacrificial drill bit and by pumping grout down the hollow bar as drilling progresses. Kinetic methods of firing relatively short bars into soil slopes have also been developed.Source: Tennessee Department of TransportationUPCOMING PROJECTA contract paving project is scheduled this summer to resurface a 5.6-mile section of U.S. Highway 41 from Bobby McCulley Road to McBrien Lane. Bids on this project will be opened May 23. This project will connect with a 6.5-mile resurfacing project completed last year from McBrien Lane east to the Hamilton County line.Source: Tennessee Department of Transportation
People who have spent most of their lives on the easternmost piece of U.S. Highway 41 in Marion County say Aetna Mountain’s going to win the battle for the pavement.
The stretch of Highway 41, also known as Dixie Highway, between Lookout Valley and Haletown underwent repaving work and a soil-nailing project last fall to smooth and stabilize the road, but it just keeps sliding down the mountain toward the Tennessee River.
“I remember my daddy talking about it all the time,” commercial catfisherman Jimmy Legg said as he tied his fishing nets for a day of pursuing his whiskered quarry. Legg’s father owned a store on 41 called Pete’s Cider and Fireworks, which had a live black bear on display back in the old days.
“That road has always fallen in,” said Legg, 58, leaning on a rack made for spreading out his nets beside the highway. “I don’t know what they could do to stop it.