Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly is overseeing a $47 million renovation of the Walnut Street Bridge that began in March 2025 and remains on schedule to reopen on September 26, 2026. The project includes the installation of more than 200,000 pounds of steel and is funded entirely by federal grant dollars, with no additional city tax dollars required.
The cost increased by about $12.6 million from earlier projections, driven primarily by the replacement and refurbishment of corroded steel. The added expense was fully covered by available federal grants, and the work has not pushed back the scheduled reopening date.
"While it's true that this is a historic bridge that has been sitting over the water for 136 years with all that entails, anyone who has spent any time with me knows that I refuse to kick the can down the road on projects of generational importance to our city's well-being," Kelly said. He also addressed the scope of the steel work: "In spite of the 94 tons of rusted steel beams we had to rip out and replace, I'm proud to report that the Walnut Street Bridge repair is on time and will not require additional city funds to complete."
The renovation required the replacement of more than one out of every four load-bearing steel beams on the bridge. More than nine out of every 10 suspension trusses had to be overhauled due to heavy rust at the points where components link together, and seven percent of the load-bearing structures that were not replaced required additional steel bracing for strengthening. If laid end-to-end, the replacement steel beams removed from the bridge would stretch 8,340 feet, about the height of six Empire State Buildings or 28 Republic Centers stacked on top of one another. The 200,000 pounds of installed steel weighs about as much as 43 Volkswagen Atlas SUVs.
All sanding, painting, and structural work was required to be accomplished without dropping any material into the Tennessee River. Contractors installed a chain-link work platform along the entire span to allow workers to inspect and repair portions of the bridge. When the decking was torn out and the inspection platform was installed, additional corroded steel supports had to be pulled out and replaced.
Workers installed new, weather-resistant wood decking, rewired the bridge to support improved lighting and security cameras, repaired the handrails, and modified the structure to improve accessibility for residents with disabilities. Segments of the bridge were repainted in "Chattanooga blue" as other renovation work was completed. Kelly directed the overhaul to avoid closing the bridge to pedestrians.
The Walnut Street Bridge, constructed in 1890, spans the Tennessee River and connects Chattanooga's north shore to the city's downtown. Designed by Edwin Thacher for the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo, Ohio, the 2,376-foot structure uses a Pennsylvania truss system, a subtype of the Pratt truss used for longer spans where additional strength is required. The bridge initially served horse-drawn wagons and pedestrians and later accommodated motor vehicle traffic before being closed to vehicles in 1978 due to concerns about its structural integrity. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and reopened in 1993 as a pedestrian bridge after asphalt was replaced with wood planks and the steel was repainted.