10-02-2025
Big Mac bridge now 'more open than any Chiefs receivers.' Social media has jokes
The Big Mac is back!
The closure of what's formally known as the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge by a massive Nov. 1 fire became a bit of a meme in Cincinnati. The bridge's reopening is no different.
After upending the daily commutes of 100,000 drivers, cutting off traffic to Northern Kentucky businesses and racking up $13 million in repairs since November, the southbound span of the bridge reopened Sunday night. And the region is celebrating accordingly.
We rounded up the best reactions to the bridge's epic comeback. Take a look.
Channel 5 anchor Kelly Rippin took to X to share her excitement for the bridge's reopening, granting the structure a new nickname: "The Bearded Beauty." Get it?
The witty hometown brand Cincy Shirts created a T-shirt that reads "Return of the Mac," a play on Mark Morrison's 1996 R&B hit "Return of the Mack."
The T-shirt features an illustration of the Big Mac Bridge and a sign for Interstate 471, which is the highway that runs across the bridge. "Connected Again," is written beneath the illustration with the reopening date, "February 9, 2025."
The brand debuted the shirt in a hilarious Facebook post, writing "Our traffic nightmares are over! We had to make something to celebrate this important moment in Cincy history."
It's finally reopening! Our traffic nightmares are over! We had to make something to celebrate this important moment in Cincy history
Posted by Cincy Shirts on Friday, February 7, 2025
The shirt costs $20 and is available online and at Cincy Shirts' Fort Mitchell and Loveland locations.
Local comedian Joe Boyd took to X to celebrate the bridge reopening and, of course, roast the Kansas City Chiefs' less-than-stellar Super Bowl 59 performance.
The Ohio Department of Transportation joined in on the fun after the agency announced the bridge would reopen a full month earlier than anticipated.
The department tweeted a photo of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and the bridge with the caption: "Comeback Player(s) of the Year."
In honor of the bridge's reopening, the Facebook account Digging Cincinnati History shared an old Enquirer article from the 1980s laying out plans McDonald's had to build a floating franchise along Newport's riverbank, at the foot of the golden arches of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge.
Unfortunately, the McDonald's Big Mac and Big Mac bridge collaboration never came to fruition as the chain pulled its plans due to construction complications.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Big Mac bridge reopens over the Ohio River. Social media reacts
