Broadway viaduct, McClung projects to be done side-by-side

Perhaps it’s a sign of a city’s rapid growth when two major downtown projects must work together to keep from getting in each other’s way.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation soon will begin replacing the Broadway viaduct. According to TDOT spokesman Mark Nagi, the $31 million project is expected to be let to contract this summer and the hope is to complete it in two years.

In the construction, TDOT will be using a part of the McClung warehouse site.

“The McClung site will be used to provide the roadway contractor with egress/ingress to the project area from Jackson Avenue,” TDOT spokesman Mark Nagi said.

The McClung site itself is getting some major work done.

The city of Knoxville received a $150,000 brownfields grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to help in cleaning the site of hazardous waste to make it ready for re-use. The project got started with a kickoff meeting June 1 but it will be a few months before the on-site work begins.

“I do not think we have had this situation previously where we will be working concurrently with the state on the same site,’” said Anne Wallace, Knoxville’s deputy director of the Office of Redevelopment. "However, we appreciate their (TDOT’s) investment in the community and anticipate that we will be able to work successfully together in the same area as needed.”

She said the city has not adjusted its schedule on the McClung site to deal with TDOT work on the viaduct.

“We anticipated either getting in front of or working concurrently with TDOT,” Wallace said, adding the a majority of the McClung site is out of the area TDOT will be using to help in the viaduct project.

Changing the face of Knoxville

Both projects will be changing the face of downtown Knoxville. The viaduct spanning the Norfolk Southern rail yard has been a fixture on the north side of downtown since 1927.

Nagi explained that all bridges across the state are inspected on a two-year cycle and evaluated for needed repair or replacement.

“It was time for that bridge to be replaced,” he said. “We work with our local partners and regional planning organizations to prioritize projects.”

The particular project has had many stakeholders.

“The project has required a great deal of coordination with the railroad, adjacent property owners, the city of Knoxville and all utilities involved,” Nagi said.

Located close to Interstate 40, the derelict remains of the McClung warehouse complex were a part of interstate travelers' initial view of Knoxville until the buildings burned and were leveled in 2014.  

The city awarded the contract for the McClung site cleanup to S&ME in April. The goal will be to rid the site of any hazardous material so that it can be sold to a private developer.

The EPA awards brownfields grants to clean up environmental hazardous sites nationwide.

Several businesses have operated on the McClung site through the years including an automotive garage, woodworking shop, freight shipping company, freight storage and even a blacksmith shed.

What's on site?
 

A brownfield assessment conducted by Tetra Tech found the site holds metals including arsenic, lead, cobalt, manganese and thallium, as well as asbestos and benzene.

Wallace said that although there is no deadline on completing the site cleanup, the brownfield grant runs to Sept. 30, 2019.

“We hope to be able to implement the work in a shorter time frame,” said Liz Porter, S&ME vice president.

She said it will likely be more than a month before the on-site work begins because S&ME must get some quality assurance documentation approved by EPA before the work can start.

The plan is to be able to sell the property to a developer for possible commercial-residential mixed use.

The McClung property received one of two brownfield grants awarded to the city last year. The other, for $200,000, is for cleanup for the Sanitary Laundry site at 625 North Broadway. A dry cleaners operated at that site from 1926 to 1993.

Plans there are removal and disposal of containers, asbestos removal and addressing the soil vapor mitigation system. The roof of the structure also will be stabilized.

Porter said the brownsfield funding as well as $70,000 in matching money from the city ($30,000 for McClung, $40,000 for  Sanitary Laundry) likely won't be enough to complete the entire cleanup, however, “there will be enough done there to get all of that started so that the developer would have a much smaller job (taking care of the remaining cleanup).”