The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Monday announced the kickoff of a study to look at options for improving or replacing the U.S. 51 Ohio River Bridge, also known as the Cairo Bridge, between Wickliffe and Cairo, Illinois. The 76-year old structure, which carries U.S. 60 and U.S. 62, has been officially termed functionally obsolete because it does not meet current traffic standards.
The driving width of the bridge deck is less than 23-feet and it carries a high percentage of commercial truck traffic. The nearest alternate upstream river crossing is the Interstate 24 Ohio River Bridge, at Paducah, which requires a nearly 2-hour detour. The nearest crossings downstream are the Dorena-Hickman Ferry, and the I-155 Mississippi River Bridge between Dyersburg, Tennessee, and Caruthersville, Missouri.
Officials say the goal of the study goal is to identify options for a constructible and affordable bridge that will maintain the reliability of this important crossing into the future. Officials go on to point out that this is a long-range process, putting construction of any suggested option years into the future.
According to project officials, several options will be considered for the river crossing including: rehabilitation of the existing bridge; replacement of the bridge in its current location; feasibility of a new bridge in a new location; and a no-build or do-nothing alternative.
Kentucky transportation officials emphasized that this is the start of an extended process and that no construction activities are planned at this time. The project will engage the communities of Wickliffe and Cairo through public meetings that are expected to be scheduled in 2013. The study will be coordinated with local officials, public agencies, and representatives from interested groups.
The bridge carries about 5,400 vehicles per day across the Ohio River. The bridge was constructed by the Cairo Bridge Commission and opened to traffic as a toll facility on November 11, 1936. Tolls were removed 12 years later when the highway agencies of Kentucky and Illinois took over maintenance of the structure.
The driving width of the bridge deck is less than 23-feet and it carries a high percentage of commercial truck traffic. The nearest alternate upstream river crossing is the Interstate 24 Ohio River Bridge, at Paducah, which requires a nearly 2-hour detour. The nearest crossings downstream are the Dorena-Hickman Ferry, and the I-155 Mississippi River Bridge between Dyersburg, Tennessee, and Caruthersville, Missouri.
Officials say the goal of the study goal is to identify options for a constructible and affordable bridge that will maintain the reliability of this important crossing into the future. Officials go on to point out that this is a long-range process, putting construction of any suggested option years into the future.
According to project officials, several options will be considered for the river crossing including: rehabilitation of the existing bridge; replacement of the bridge in its current location; feasibility of a new bridge in a new location; and a no-build or do-nothing alternative.
Kentucky transportation officials emphasized that this is the start of an extended process and that no construction activities are planned at this time. The project will engage the communities of Wickliffe and Cairo through public meetings that are expected to be scheduled in 2013. The study will be coordinated with local officials, public agencies, and representatives from interested groups.
The bridge carries about 5,400 vehicles per day across the Ohio River. The bridge was constructed by the Cairo Bridge Commission and opened to traffic as a toll facility on November 11, 1936. Tolls were removed 12 years later when the highway agencies of Kentucky and Illinois took over maintenance of the structure.
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