Legislators discuss possible future Soddy-Daisy/Harrison bridge

SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. (WDEF)-  Two Hamilton County state representatives floated the idea of building a new bridge between Soddy-Daisy and Harrison Tuesday morning.

Representatives Greg Vital and Greg Martin discussed the topic at the Legislative Kickoff program.

Currently, there is no bridge between the Thrasher Bridge over the Chickamauga Dam to the Tri-County Veterans Bridge along Highway 60 in Meigs County.

The idea has been floated for decades, and currently is the subject of a Hamilton County Public Works study that was announced in June.

While they acknowledge it would be years away from ever being completed, they say planning should begin now to help support the growth of northern Hamilton County.

Rep. Martin said, “The Dam has about 90,000 vehicles a day, and the two latest bridges that the state built coming out of Rhea County, Highway 30 and Highway 60, have about 9,000 a day, and we haven’t had a bridge built here in about 50 years, well at least it would be over 50 years when it would be completed.”

He added that he would be curious what prospective gubernatorial candidates in 2026 would think about the issue.

Representative Vital said that currently the state is building a billion dollar bridge for I-40 in Memphis and repairing destroyed bridges in northeastern Tennessee due to damage from Hurricane Helene.

Both would need to be completed before this project is considered.