Chattanooga's iconic Walnut Street Bridge will be getting a $2.7 million makeover with new wooden decking, repairs to its columns and sandblasted, repainted steel.
The improvements for downtown's popular pedestrian thoroughfare, part of $80 million in capital spending recently approved by the City Council, will take three years to complete. Other projects include a Real Time Intelligence Center for the police department and a new Youth & Family Development Center for the Avondale community.
"Walnut Street Bridge is something people love in our community," Mayor Andy Berke said recently. "We're making sure that's a safe and wonderful place for people to enjoy our city."
Built in 1890 and closed in 1978 because of safety concerns, the Walnut Street Bridge reopened as a pedestrian thoroughfare in 1993 after the community rallied for the structure's restoration instead of its demolition.
A February 2015 inspection called for maintenance efforts to prevent the bridge's degradation and preserve it for future generations. Established as a historic landmark, ongoing restorative efforts are limited to using wood for sidewalks and decking and steel for the superstructure, city planners say.
Public Works Assistant City Engineer Dennis Malone said the makeover will take place in the fall and winter to minimize impact on pedestrians. It also will be scheduled around a number of planned major events, he said.
Malone said providing ongoing pedestrian access to the bridge played a role in why the bid submitted by Bell and Associates Construction of Brentwood, Tenn., came in more than $1 million above the $1.6 million estimate by project consultant Volkert & Associates Inc. He said plans call for closing portions of the bridge, but foot traffic may still cross during the rehabilitation period.
Summer is the optimal time to perform some of the necessary work, but it would have a greater effect on pedestrian traffic, Malone said. Time allowed for the work, weather, material costs and existing work load of the contractors all played a part in the individual task bids, he said.
Although only $1 million has been allocated to the project for 2017, more than $2.2 million has been allocated to the makeover program in previous capital budgets.
According to long-range plans, the project will need another $8.4 million in 2018, including $5.6 million in federal transportation improvement funds.
The Walnut Street Bridge benefited from a number of improvements between 2009 and 2013, including the replacement of the asphalt surface with wooden planking and converting more than half the bridge's 212 lights to LED fixtures.
Vandalism forced the replacement of a number of the bridge's metal nameplates with plastic ones. The new wave of restorative work will not change that, Malone said.
CAPITAL PLANNING
Berke and several members of the City Council shared their thoughts on capital planning in budget discussions over the last two months and interviews with the Times Free Press.
It is just as important for department leaders to know what they should not expect in funding as it is for them to know what they can expect, Berke said.
He praised the role Jenny Park, Chattanooga's strategic capital planner, has played in what he described as a collaborative process for balancing new projects and maintaining existing infrastructure as the city departments chart their budgets over the year.
"A budget is just a plan," Councilwoman Carol Berz said. "You know an organization by its budget."
The capital budget generally involves purchasing or maintaining long-term assets and includes things like buying equipment or constructing or repairing buildings, sidewalks and roads.
Sewer system, solid waste and water quality projects in the 2017 capital budget receive $45.2 million in funding from fees associated with those services, known as enterprise funds. These fee-based revenues cannot be allocated to general government department needs, which take their funding from tax revenues and grants.
In 2017, general funding amounts to $34.6 million.
PEDESTRIANS AND PAVING
Chattanooga Deputy Chief Operating Officer David Carmody said pedestrian infrastructure, such as neighborhood sidewalks and big, visible projects like the Walnut Street rehabilitation, are key concerns for the city government.
"Some of these projects might seem mundane, but they have a direct impact on the lives of many of the citizens of Chattanooga," Carmody said.
A snapshot of the 2017 capital budget shows pedestrian-related project support from several departments, including Chattanooga Public Works, Transportation and Economic & Community Development.
"This year's capital budget focuses on the greatest needs in our city," Councilman Chris Anderson said in an email, citing projects inside his district including new sidewalks on Dodds Avenue in East Lake and trail development to connect Alton Park to the Tennessee Riverwalk. "After years of neglect, the most underserved parts of our community are seeing investment."
The $377,250 Dodds Avenue project - funded through a Community Development Block Grant - calls for new and renovated sidewalks between Rossville Boulevard and East 36th Street, near East Lake Academy, East Lake Park and the East Lake Youth & Family Development center.
The Alton Park connection costs $35,000 and uses the CSX rail line from 38th Street at Central Avenue, along the Bell School site to the Middle Street Riverwalk trailhead. A plan is in the works to transform the former school site into a park.
Other pedestrian projects include a sidewalk for Browns Ferry Road between Lake Road and Elder Mountain Road, a new greenway connection between Moore Road and the Cromwell Heights neighborhood and safe route improvements for Lakeside Academy. The projects amount to $708,660, including $243,222 in federal funding for the Lakeside Academy renovations, which go from Jersey Pike to Oakwood Drive.
The capital improvements plan includes $3.5 million for two Tennessee Riverwalk extensions in 2018, with one connecting Highway 27 to Moccasin Bend and the other running from Middle Street to the Incline. The plan also calls for a $1 million South Chickamauga Greenway connection to Faith Road in 2018.
In addition to nearly all the Tennessee Riverwalk, greenway connector and sidewalk projects listed in the capital improvement plans, the transportation department's $9.6 million budget for 2017 also calls for $1.3 million in improvements to the Martin Luther King Boulevard corridor and $3.6 million for paving.
Berke has called the King Boulevard corridor renovations a necessary makeover for a "gateway to Chattanooga."
Councilmen Ken Smith and Chip Henderson said they count paving dollars among their top priorities.
"It's the No. 1 concern in my district," Henderson said.
The paving budget has steadily increased over the last three years.
"Road improvements make a daily impact on our citizens' lives," Smith said after the passage of the capital budget on July 5.
PUBLIC SAFETY
The police department's Real Time Intelligence Center calls for $1.4 million in investments, split between 2017 and 2018. The new control center, intended to streamline data processing of 911 calls and live camera feeds, has been touted by the department as a means of dealing more effectively with gang-related violence. The announcement of the new center came after a spate of gang shootings rocked Chattanooga this spring.
Lt. John Chambers recently said the new system would allow a handful of police officers in the center to track and relay critical information as violent incidents unfold instead of having to wait days or weeks on some pieces of critical information. For instance, if a 911 caller tells the operator that a drive-by shooting involved a red SUV, the system of network cameras could provide an alert when a red SUV passes by, he said.
The Family Justice Center, still under construction, will receive another $600,000 under the 2017 capital budget. The facility, scheduled to open in November, will include space for Legal Aid Services, the the police department's Special Victims Unit and McKamey Animal Center representatives.
"It's a dream come true," said Berz, who has championed the center.
The fire department receives another $1 million in 2017 as part of its apparatus (fire-fighting vehicle) replacement program.
Berke praised the program, which allows the department to space out the purchase of three vehicles over a three-year span instead of having to make a request to replace three vehicles all in one year.
Henderson, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, said he would like to see a program that funds replacements based on assessed needs instead of $1 million a year. Such a plan would allocate money based on the percentage of the department's fleet that needs to be replaced.
The long-range capital plan calls for the department to receive $475,000 to make improvements to its training drill tower, purchase another Quick Response Vehicle and update its records management system.
STUDENTS & FAMILIES
The $6 million Avondale Youth & Family Development center will double the size of the current facility, built in the middle of the last century. The project also calls for another $500,000 in 2018. It accounts for 17 percent of the 2017 general fund capital budget.
Berke said the center represents a major investment in the East Chattanooga communities.
Councilman Yusuf Hakeem praised the city's $500,000 commitment to expanding the Chambliss Center for Children.
The facility, which primarily serves families living at or below poverty level, will use the money to build extra classroom space to care for another 100 children annually, according to capital planning documents. More than 400 children now are on the center's waiting list.
"The early learning opportunities offered at Chambliss [go a long way] towards helping Chattanooga's workforce development efforts," Hakeem said.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @pleach_tfp.