‘We hoped someone from the county would have attended today’s meeting’- City Administrator Stan Foust

By Charlotte Underwood

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Officials with the City of LaFollette held a meeting on Tuesday regarding the Dossett Road-Bert Loupe Bridge project. The bridge talks between city and county officials originally began in 2018 when E.L. Morton was county mayor and Mike Stanfield was LaFollette’s mayor.

The proposed new bridge would replace what was once a cross-tie bridge connecting Dossett Road with Memorial Drive. That bridge was condemned and eventually razed in the 1970s. Having a bridge over CSX railroad tracks would allow quicker access to Stiner Airfield from the west side of LaFollette.

The city plans on retaining insurance and clearing about a half-acre of trees in order to move the project forward and hopefully reduce the price once it is rebid.

City Mayor Cliff Jennings, City Administrator Stan Foust, City Finance Director Terry Sweat, along with several council members met with Community Development Partners and the project manager Warren Yule.

Officials discussed ways to reduce the cost of the project and how to move it forward. 

“We’ve got some ideas to re bid the project. One is arranging clearing of the trees so that reduces the risk to the contractor. We talked about this previously,” Yule said.

There is an environmental restriction that the trees must be cut between October 15th and March 31st. About a “half acre of trees” need removed. These trees are on the railroad right of way and CSX must grant right of way entry. The Railroad requires specific insurance before granting right of way entry. 

According to Kelly Wisely with Structure Technical Policies (STP), “most cities don’t have the insurance, but nine times out of ten, it’s the contractor who has the correct insurance coverage.”

Council member Stephanie Solomon said it might be better to add that insurance to the city so it can still clear the trees in-house.

Some of the trees are in the county.

“We had hoped the county would be here,” City Administrator Stan Foust said.

The city and CSX already have an agreement in place from last year for the work, which expedites the process.

“We don’t have to recreate that agreement. The City and CSX do have a signed agreement that is about a year old,” Yule said.

“Once everything is good to go with your construction agreement, you still have to have a flagger and protection to work in the right of way. If the city has the correct insurance, the city can request right of entry and do the work themselves,” Wisely said.

“To me all the city can do is get the insurance, get that info to them and remove those trees,” Mayor Cliff Jennings said.

Officials said they could get the project rebid before the trees are cut if they have a commitment to cut them. 

“Hopefully we can get better bids based on calendar days and tree cutting,” Yule said.

Officials also hope to get more bidders to bring the price down. The previous bid came in at $4.4 million dollars; the majority of the project will be paid for through a grant. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-10/30/2024-6AM)

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