Police Seek Suspects in Bridge Vandalism

State transportation officials are working with law enforcement to find suspects who stole navigation lights and damaged two Paducah area bridges.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says the McCracken County Sheriff’s Department investigated a report of damage to navigation lights on the US 45 Ohio River “Brookport” Bridge at Paducah on Labor Day weekend. Someone reportedly severely damaged a solar panel that powers navigation lights, prompting a report to the U.S. Coast Guard so commercial tow boats could be alerted that some navigation lights were out of service. The solar panel damage knocked out green lights that marked the center of the bridge's main navigation span.
 
Inspectors later found damage to solar navigation lights on the KY 453 Canal Bridge near the Lyon-Livingston County Line just south of Grand Rivers at the northern entrance to Land Between The Lakes National Recreation area. They also found damage to the walkway used by inspectors to access the area beneath the bridge deck. Two of the red navigation lights that mark piers of the bridge for passing boat traffic had also been stolen.  Two others had been damaged.  The incident was reported to the Lyon County Sheriff and Coast Guard officials.
 
KYTC District 1 Chief Engineer Mike McGregor is asking anyone with information on the vandalism to contact law enforcement.
  
Officials say they are investigating graffiti on piers nearby that listed social media account information, phone numbers, and other identifiers that could connect specific individuals to the damage.

This is the second time vandals have damaged navigation lights on the Canal Bridge. In March of 2013, someone stole wiring that supplied electric power to the navigation lights. Damage at that time was estimated at more than $50,000.