KYTC plans to begin Glover Cary Bridge repair project next week
When major repair get underway in early July, the bridge is expected to be closed to all traffic for about 90 days.
'Repairs to safeguard the iconic Glover Cary Bridge in downtown Owensboro are scheduled this summer to maintain the vital traffic service it provides across the Ohio River between northwest Kentucky and southern Indiana,' a Thursday press release from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said.
'This is the largest repair operation on the Glover Cary Bridge since 2011,' said KYTC district two public information officer Matt Hughes. 'It has closed for more minor repairs since 2011, but this is the biggest project in recent years.'
Hughes said that following an inspection of the bridge last fall, engineers estimated needing to close the bridge for around six months.
'But the engineers have worked to streamline the repairs in order to shorten the closure length, to reduce traffic impacts to a minimum,' he said.
Last fall's inspection also called for repairs to the roadway on the Indiana side of the bridge, Hughes said.
'During that inspection back in the fall, they found some issues over on the north river in Indiana that were going to require the road to be shut down to make some repairs,' Hughes said. 'We were able to work with the Indiana Department of Transportation to try to get that built into this one project because we're going to have the bridge shut down anyway. So we though to go ahead and get that fixed as well so there won't be more inconvenience for travelers.'
According to Thursday's press release, work on the bridge will begin with single-lane closures starting on Monday, June 9 and run through Wednesday, June 11. Flaggers will be directing traffic in an alternating one-lane method.
American Contracting & Services, hired by the KYTC, plans to fully close the bridge, which connects Kentucky 2262 with Indiana SR 161, following the Independence Day holiday weekend, in order for the full scope of work to begin. During that time, the aging bridge deck will be replaced, concrete repairs will be made and bridge joints will be repaired.
'While the entire project is slated to last through November, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is limiting the actual bridge closure to 90 days or less. That schedule would have the bridge reopened around the first of October,' stated the press release.
Hughes said that construction crews are planning to work through the night in order to keep the repair timeline to 90 days or less.
KYTC said that closing only one lane at a time on the bridge wasn't possible to be able to complete all of the repairs.
'Crews will be fully replacing one 750-foot span of concrete-filled bridge decking while making repairs to a second span of the same length. Because the decking spans the entire width of the bridge surface, closing one lane at a time is impossible,' the press release detailed.
Closing the bridge for these repairs, Hughes said, 'will allow for 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'. Work that can be completed without fully closing the bridge is planned to happen outside of the 90-day window.
KYTC estimates that around 7,200 vehicles cross the Blue Bridge, which opened to public traffic in 1940, daily.
During the time of the closure, travelers needing to traverse the Ohio River into Southern Indiana should detour to the U.S. 231 William H. Natcher Bridge.
Up-to-date traffic information provided by the KYTC can be found at goky.ky.gov.
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