CHATTANOOGA, Tenn — Crews continue making visible progress on the months long renovation of Chattanooga’s Walnut Street Bridge, with city officials saying the project remains on track for a September reopening despite minor delays tied to structural repairs.
Brian Smith, communications and marketing manager for Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors, joined us on ARC Chattanooga Wednesday morning and told us folks have been watching the transformation closely as sections of the bridge are repainted in what the city calls Chattanooga blue.
Smith said crews are working span by span, sandblasting, priming, and repainting the steel inside sealed containment tents designed to protect the Tennessee River from debris and pollutants.
That is a containment area that is airtight, and they are sandblasting, priming, and painting inside that airtight facility,” Smith said. “The main reason is so nothing leaks out into the river, and it also protects the work from the weather.
Workers are also replacing the bridge’s wooden planks with Alaskan cedar, which Smith said matches the original materials used when the bridge was built in the 1800s…