Repairs will begin today on Signal Mountain Boulevard
Work is beginning today to repair and stabilize a section of Signal Mountain Boulevard.
Starting today, crews from GeoStabilization International will start work to make permanent repairs to an area of U.S. Highway 127 that has shown signs of instability, according to a news release from the Tennessee Department of Transportation. During the repairs, the road will be reduced to one lane and traffic will be controlled with a temporary signal.
The work is expected to take about eight weeks to complete.
TDOT regional maintenance crews regularly monitor the road, and if they find an area of concern they contact TDOT’s geotechnical engineers to come in and assess it for possible repairs. During a recent routine inspection, they found signs that one section might require more in-depth repairs than those done under regular
maintenance. Geotechnical engineers assessed the site and came up with a repair plan. The work will be done using crews from GSI under a statewide on-call maintenance contract for soil nailing and slope stabilization.
During the work, loose material will be removed from the area and the slope will be stabilized using soil nailing, an onsite soil reinforcement technique where soil nails are placed into the natural ground at relatively close spacing to increase the strength of the soil mass. As the bars are being drilled, grout is inserted into the hole to ensure that the soil nail stays put. A steel-reinforced concrete wall will be built that encompasses the soil nails to form a retaining structure along with means to drain water from the slope behind the wall. The upper portion of the retaining structure will be backfilled with new material and the roadway rebuilt.
Message boards will be placed at each end of the work zone notifying drivers of the one-lane condition. Those who regularly travel the road should allow extra time to get through the work zone.
Earlier this month, two state lawmakers from Hamilton County — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bo Watson, R-Hixson, and Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain — in a letter to Tennessee Transportation Commissioner John Schroer, said in no uncertain terms that they want the department to move faster to fix problems on U.S. Highway 127.
They told Schroer the long-awaited project has now reached a “critical stage” and was a factor in their decision to back Gov. Bill Haslam’s 2017 Improve Act, which raised gas taxes to kick-start hundreds of road projects across Tennessee.
“Let us be clear,” the lawmakers said, “this is a priority project to us. Highway 127 was discussed extensively with TDOT and the Administration during the ‘Improve Act’ negotiations and we shared the concerns that the City of Signal Mountain and many residents had expressed to us regarding the potential failure of this vital transportation route.”
The road is a key link between Signal Mountain and Chattanooga. Major rock slides can quickly shut the road down, forcing thousands of residents to use the windy, two-lane W Road.