Progress Being Made by Crews on New Bridge Span

Construction workers continue to swarm the new span on the US 68/KY 80 Eggners Ferry Bridge at Aurora. With the new span set in place on Monday, workers have made significant progress in their effort to place forms and reinforcing steel required to allow a new concrete deck to be poured on the structure.
 
Thursday morning Hall Contracting indicated that they expect the span to be open as scheduled by May 27th. Work on the new deck has intensified as workers focus on meeting the Memorial Day deadline for restoring traffic. That has prompted Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) officials to limit access to the bridge to essential personnel only.
 
KYTC inspectors who monitor construction activities say they believe the new deck could be ready for concrete to be poured as early as Monday. However, there are any number of issues that could impact progress, including the weather.
 
A KYTC electrical crew is continuing work along the bridge to install conduit to the new portion of the structure. Power for the bridge originally came from the Trigg County side. After the 322 ft. span was knocked off the bridge by the Cargo Ship Delta Mariner on January 26th, electric power to the bridge had to be temporarily re-routed from the Marshall County end of the structure. As part of the restoration project, power will reconnected to the LBL end.
 
Once a new deck is poured, KYTC construction inspectors will check the concrete to assure it is of proper strength. When concrete work is done, bridge inspectors will check and document the new span. Transportation Cabinet engineers say they plan to have enough inspectors on hand to complete the required safety checks in a few hours.
 
The new deck is designed to closely match the existing 22 ft. wide deck on the rest of the 81 year old structure.
 
Hall Contracting of Louisville has a $7 million contract to replace the missing span and get the bridge reopened to traffic by Memorial Day weekend.