Quietly and independently, away from the main hub of construction, some innovative ideas were being implemented with prestressed concrete deep in the State of Tennessee. This work involved the construction of the first linear prestressed concrete structures (using machinemade block beams) built in the United States, the introduction of continuity in prestressed spans, the first use of deflected strands in pretensioned beams as well as other design and construction innovations. This paper will describe these developments in some detail and close by discussing some recent research work which might hold promise for the future.
