Brookport Bridge Struck Earlier Than This Week

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has moved back their estimate of when damage occurred to the Brookport Bridge, but they still don't have much to work with as they try to gather more details.



Since the agency issued a press release about the new width and load limits on the bridge between Paducah and Brookport, several people have called or stopped by their office, to say they saw the damage much earlier than engineers estimated it happened.



West Kentucky Star received an email of a photo with a time-stamp of May 4, showing the damage, and the person who sent it asked why nothing had been said about it until now. Comparing the photo that was received with the photo from KYTC earlier this week, oxidation on newly exposed metal is obvious, indicating that more than a few days had lapsed since the damage was done.



Keith Todd of the Transportation Cabinet said staff discussed the issue and used some of the information to get a better idea of when the damage occured. He said a crew did a walk-through inspection on April 11, so they have a window of just over a couple of weeks when the structure was hit.



Todd said, "They took a lot of pictures during that walk-through inspection, and the damage does not show up then, so we know that it happened some time after April 11. And based on some of the photos out there, it appears that probably around April 30 some time, maybe a day or two before that."



Todd added that if they hope to find the person who caused the damage, someone will have to come forward with reliable, confirmable information about when and how the bridge was struck. If someone called 9-1-1 or contacted his agency to report the damage, they need something they can trace back - a phone number, a person that took the call - anything that helps them investigate.



Todd said anonymous photos and information can help them form theories, but getting real answers requires real data. He added that people can be very bold, even condemning online, but now is the time for people who want to be part of the solution to step up and give real help.



"It's very easy for somebody to get on social media and claim this or claim that, but we're to a place where we need people to come forward, to give us their name, to give us their phone number. If they reported something, we need to know the date and time that happened." Todd said.



Todd said when it comes to matters of public safety, the old saying from World War II applies - "When you see something, say something."