Talks of rebuilding a once wooden bridge spanning a railroad track on Dossett Road began in 2018

The asphalt is where the Dossett Road ended at the former wooden bridge and you can see the foundation across the tracks.

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- Names and faces of many of the leaders who first brought up the idea to put a new bridge on Dossett Road have changed. Though the idea has not faded. Having a bridge over CSX railroad tracks would allow quicker access to Stiner Airfield from the west side of LaFollette, especially for medical personnel headed to meet  UT LIFESTAR which is based at the airport.

In 2018, talks and studies began into constructing a new Dossett Road Bridge that would reconnect the dead end road to the airport, Stiner Airfield. Now, in its eighth year of talks, dirt began being moved this week by Public Works crews with the City of La Follette.

In the 1970s, the county condemned the old cross-tie bridge that allowed travelers from Dossett Road to cross over the railroad to the airport.  The bridge was later razed and weeds, trees and all kinds of growth covered the area where it once stood until work began to clear the area on Tuesday.

Since its closing, Dossett Road has been a dead end street that meets the four lane at the Big O’s Cumberland stop light. The road was named for Burgin E. Dossett who had a home on the other side of the airport. Dossett, a Campbell County native, served as the president of ETSU for nearly 20 years through 1968.

The dark dirt to the left is where the road bed is leading up to the once railroad bridge.

Even though the bridge is still in the works years later, it was decided in the spring of 2019 to name the new after Bert Loupe. Loupe has been the manager of the airport for decades and is the only manager the airport has ever had.

“It’s a great honor.  But we still have some time before the bridge is completed,” Loupe said with his famed hearty chuckle, during an April 2019 interview. Little did Loupe know that it would be 2025 before the first dirt would be moved.

The new bridge will bear Bert Loupe’s name.

At last count, the cost of the new bridge will be in the neighborhood of four and a half million dollars. The majority of the cost of the bridge will be paid through a grant, according to La Follette City officials. There is hope that since the City is clearing the railroad right of way, it will bring down construction costs.

The City, Campbell County and CSX are working together on this project. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-02/06/2025-6AM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)

2 Replies to “La Follette PW crew moving dirt for new Bert Loupe Bridge”

  1. Will it be big enough for all the over flow traffic that will use it to go around the backups everyday on the main road because there b lot traffic backup on it trying get around main rd

  2. It will be backed up daily from people going around traffic on main road whats plan for that

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