Jimmy Mann Evans Memorial Bridge


The Jimmy Mann Evans Memorial Bridge is a, steel stringer, multibeam bridge which carries Interstate 40 across Kentucky Lake, part of the Tennessee River in western part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The bridge also spans the boundaries between Benton and Humphreys counties and the western and middle parts of the state.

Description

The Jimmy Mann Evans Memorial Bridge carries four lanes of I-40 on a single span across the Kentucky Lake impoundment of the Tennessee River. This is the historical boundary between Middle and West Tennessee, as defined in the Tennessee State Constitution. West of the bridge is a causeway above a floodplain created by Kentucky Dam.

History

Construction began on the bridge on November 29, 1962. The bridge was the largest project on I-40 between Memphis and Nashville. The bridge was completed on July 21, 1965. The entire project cost $4.62 million. The segment of I-40 between Memphis and Nashville, the first section of interstate completed between two major cities in Tennessee, was dedicated on July 24, 1966 in a ceremony officiated by then-governor Frank G. Clement on the bridge. The bridge was renovated in 1992 and named after Jimmy Mann Evans who served as president of the Tennessee Road Builders Association and as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation from 1987 until his death in 1992.
The murder of Holly Bobo reportedly took place underneath the bridge in April 2011.