Olgiati Bridge

From 1946 to 1951, P.R. Olgiati was appointed to the City Commission and was elected as mayor of Chattanooga and held his position as mayor for 12 years. Olgiati became a man with great authority, power, and responsibility. He ran many of the cities departments and could use his power as an advantage to improve the city. He began his term as mayor by working to draw the state and federal officials attention. After continuous efforts to gain the approval of federal and state officials, Olgiati was granted $100 million to build up the city. Because of his driven ideals, Chattanooga became the very first of any Tennessee major city to have a fully completed interstate system.[3] The new bridge was mainly built because of the excessively used and overcrowded Market and Walnut Street bridges. The bridge was a steel girder bridge, known to be built because they are a high weight supported system.[7] The girder refers to the I-beams that are made up of steel plates that are placed together in order to hold the bridge up. Steel bridges are known to be more costly, but, when built, are much more effective and safe.[8] Olgiati was given the resources to build a well built and supported bridge, which would greatly contribute to travel in Chattanooga. The site was approved in 1954, and construction began the next year. To begin the building process, about one thousand buildings had to be torn down and around 1,400 families had to move. The entire cost of the bridge was approximately $7 million (equivalent to $50.5 million in 2021[9]). The bridge opened to traffic on November 20, 1959.[1] Initially, the bridge was named Cedar Street Bridge, but soon after was renamed P. R. Olgiati Bridge in regards to Mr. Olgiati's efforts to expand Chattanooga.[3]

Beginning in February 1999, the Olgiati bridge was widened from four to six lanes.[10] This was accomplished by attaching extending steel beams to the top of the posts over the river. Also in this project, a ramp was added from the bridge on the north side to Manufacturer's Road, replacing a hazardous cloverleaf loop ramp which diverged past the bridge. The project, after many delays, was completed in February 2003.[10]

In 2011, TDOT announced a plan add two more lanes to the bridge.[10] The groundwork for extra lanes was already done in the first widening project.[10] The project has experienced many delays, but TDOT began widening the bridge in a reconstruction of the portion of US 27 in downtown Chattanooga (Interstate 124) which began in late 2015, and is expected to be completed by 2020.[11]