The full closure of the Owensboro Bridge is planned to begin the night of July 14 and last through mid-October, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
According to KYTC, crews will begin placing signage and message boards on July 8 to help notify the public of the pending closure. The closure is expected to begin following rush hour traffic on the evening of July 14. A more specific time will be made available prior to the closure.
While the entire project is slated to last through November, KYTC officials said they are limiting the actual bridge closure to 90 days or less. That schedule would have the bridge reopened around mid-October.
American Contracting & Services will replace the aging bridge deck on the bridge, make concrete repairs, and repair bridge joints, officials said. Crews will fully replace one 750-foot-long span of concrete-filled bridge decking while making repairs to a second span of the same length. As the decking spans the entire width of the bridge surface, closing one lane at a time is impossible, officials said.
The temporary closure also allows long-term concrete maintenance to be completed, rather than short-term repairs, helping to keep the bridge safe and open for many years to come, according to the KYTC release.
The contractor conducted single-lane closures on the bridge last month in preparation for this project. That closure was to allow for the measurement of specific portions of the bridge so that repair materials could be fabricated ahead of the full closure, according to a release.
Previous plans called for a 6-month closure of the bridge, but engineers worked to streamline the repairs and shorten the closure length to reduce traffic impacts to a minimum, KYTC officials said. KYTC and the Indiana Department of Transportation coordinated to schedule the work as one project so that the bridge will only have to be closed one time.
The contractor plans to conduct any work that does not require full closure outside the 90-day period to reduce impacts on traffic.
Approximately 7,200 vehicles cross the bridge daily, according to KYTC. The structure opened to traffic in 1940.
Traffic needing to cross the Ohio River between Kentucky and Indiana during the closure should detour using the U.S. 231 William H. Natcher Bridge.
