October 1995

Sinking Creek Crossing in Johnson City

Sinking Creek just on the east side of Johnson City where the ET leaves town on the way to Elizabethton. This is looking north. This spot is interesting (to me, anyway) for 3 reasons. First, Sinking Creek from here runs for several miles toward the Watauga River then disappears into the ground, emptying into the Watauga River at some hidden location. Second is that the left wing wall of the bridge abutments is double, but the one on the right is single. Why, I'm not sure, but it appears as if the second one was added at a later date. And third, this plate girder bridge seems to be second-hand. It's way too long for the space it spans. A bridge built for this space would only be about 2 feet longer than the open space. It looks as if the top of the abutments were moved to accommodate a longer than needed bridge. The ET&WNC used many hand-me-down bridges, most notably all of the steel ones in the Doe River Gorge. They were originally wooden covered bridges, but were replaced with used standard gauge steel bridges.