Monday, February 16, 2026

1936+2016 TN-33 Bridge over Clinch River (Norris Lake) in Union County TN

1936: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges)
2016: (Satellite)

This bridge was built by the TVA to make room for Norris Lake.

1939 photo via BridgeHunter
"Design: Two, two-span continuous Warren trusses, each a 505.5-foot through Warren, and 17 steel I-beam approaches on a concrete substructure."

2008 photo by Calvin Sneed via ArchivedBridgeHunter
"One of East Tennessee's longest continuous Warren through truss bridges. View is from south approach, headed northbound. Note curve in approach to bridge superstructure."

Marvin Meyers posted two photos with the comment: "1948 photographs of the old Highway 33 Bridge and the Marina. The bridge was located in Union County Tennessee."
Anthony Frye: I remember as an 8-year-old, would have been 1977, the flood period, coming from Alcoa to grandmas house in Tazewell and couldn’t cross it cause the water was across the south side.
Deb Dalton: I crossed that bridge one night with water flapping the underside of my car.
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Street View, Apr 2009

It looks like the replacement bridge was built significantly higher.
Street View, Oct 2011

It took them a while to build the replacement. The rebar was left exposed for over four years.
Street View, Oct 2015

The replacement is a steel-girder bridge.
Street View, Aug 2016

The new pier near the center of this view shows that they are not repeating the mistake of letting the bridge dip down so that it sometimes became inundated by Lake Norris. I can't remember another time when a mistake was made with the elevation of a full reservoir pool so that a bridge would not stay above the water. But the above post has two comments indicating that the bridge deck would get inundated.
Street View, Oct 2011

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