Structure 47I00400191 · Knox County, TN

WB Frontage Rd. over I40-wb-rmp / Papermill

Carries WB Frontage Rd. over I40-wb-rmp / Papermill, North Side Of I40.

Overall conditionGood

Set by its lowest-rated component: Deck and Superstructure and Substructure at 8 of 9.

How ratings work
Decksets the rating8/9 · Very Good
Superstructuresets the rating8/9 · Very Good
Substructuresets the rating8/9 · Very Good
0 failed4 poor6 fair9 excellent

Elevation

Side view, colored by inspection rating
SEMI-TRUCK · 72 FT347 FT OVERALL50 FT0ELEVATION · LENGTHS TO SCALE
Deck 8/9Superstructure 8/9Substructure 8/9

347 ft end to end, longest span 124 ft: about 5 semi-trucks nose to tail. Lengths and the semi-truck on the deck are drawn to the same scale. Each part is colored by its latest inspection rating. The inventory records lengths but not heights or the layout of the shorter spans, so those are drawn as typical for a multi-beam bridge.

Built200521 years old
Length346.8 ft105.7 m
Daily traffic—reported figure implausible
Last inspectedOctober 2024every 24 months

Location

StateTennessee
CountyKnox
LocationNorth Side Of I40
CarriesWB Frontage Rd.
CrossesI40-wb-rmp / Papermill
Coordinates35.94221, -84.00200

Physical Characteristics

MaterialSteel Continuous
DesignStringer/Multi-beam
Total Length346.8 ft (105.7 m)
Max Span124.3 ft (37.9 m)
Deck Width40.4 ft (12.3 m)
Deck Area1300.1 sq m
Main Spans3
Year Built2005

Traffic

Avg Daily Traffic182,502 (2021)
That is about 182,502 vehicles per lane per day — beyond what any U.S. road carries (the busiest freeways run about 25,000–30,000). It is almost certainly a data-entry error in the National Bridge Inventory, so we leave this bridge out of traffic rankings.
Truck Traffic6%
Lanes On Bridge1
Lanes Under Bridge7

Inspection & Ownership

Last InspectionOctober 2024
Inspection FrequencyEvery 24 months
OwnerState Highway Agency
Historical SignificanceHistorical significance is not determined
Scour CriticalNot applicable
Structure Number47I00400191

How Bridge Ratings Work

Inspectors rate each major part of a bridge (the deck you drive on, the superstructure of beams that holds it up, and the substructure of piers and abutments beneath) on a 0–9 scale. A bridge's overall condition is its lowest of those ratings, so one deteriorated component makes the whole bridge "poor."

0Failed
1Imminent failure
2Critical
3Serious
4Poor
5Fair
6Satisfactory
7Good
8Very good
9Excellent
Good · lowest component 7–9
Fair · lowest component 5–6
Poor · lowest component 0–4

A poor rating is not a closure. It means the bridge is flagged for priority repair or replacement; bridges judged unsafe are closed or posted with weight limits. The waterway (channel) rating is reported, but it does not count toward the overall classification.

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