Flooding Shouldn't Affect Wickliffe-Cairo Bridge

The US 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge between Wickliffe and Cairo is expected to remain open despite the current round of flooding along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineers have been monitoring the river forecast at Cairo, where the Ohio River was at 50.5 feet at noon on Wednesday. That day's forecast calls for water to rise to about 51.7 ft. and crest there for several days, before starting a slow drop sometime this weekend.

That forecast puts floodwaters about 4 feet below where they would cover US Highway 51 near the Kentucky end of the Ohio River Bridge. It also would indicate that the highway will remain open at the Ballard-Carlisle County line, just south of Wickliffe.

KYTC Spokesman Keith Todd said that a flood levee breach near St. Louis would probably siphon off enough floodwater to slightly suppress river levels downstream, making it even less likely floodwaters would come near Highway 51.

The river forecast takes into account rainfall expectations along the Ohio and Mississippi River watershed for the next 48 hours.  

So far, the only major transportation disruption for Kentucky is the closure of the Dorena-Hickman Ferry, which will probably remain closed until about May 19th.