News and Music Discovery
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Eggners Ferry Bridge - Closed Monday Night (Dec 29)

KYTC

UPDATE: Monday (12/29/14) - The Eggners Ferry Bridge over Kentucky Lake will be closed tonight from 9 PM to 5 AM Tuesday morning. 

The closure is to allow contractors to place concrete for Pier #8 as part of construction of the New Eggners Ferry Bridge.

 
The contractor will place message boards along US 68 in Marshall and Trigg Counties and on KY 80 in Calloway County to alert the public to the overnight closure.  
 
There will be a marked detour between Cadiz and Aurora via Interstate 24 and the Purchase Parkway.
 
KYTC says expect a closure once a week for the next few months. 

ORIGINAL STORY: (12/4/14) 

The Eggners Ferry Bridge will be closed for overnight traffic twice over the next few days. 

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet contractors are placing the foundation for pier footings of the New Eggners Ferry Bridge which requires a concrete pumper truck to be parked on the existing bridge. 

The US68/KY80 Bridge will be closed Friday night from 9pm to 5am Saturday morning, and again Monday night from 9pm to 5am Tuesday morning.

The contractor will place message boards along US 68 in Marshall and Trigg Counties and on KY 80 in Calloway County to alert the public to these planned overnight closures.  The contractor will also place flaggers and barricades at each end of the bridge to alert traffic to the closure.

As construction continues, the contractor anticipates intermittent night closures about once a week for the next few months as weather allows. They plan to give at least 48 hours advance notice.

The new bridge will replace the 82-year-old Eggners Ferry Bridge which has only two 10-foot-wide lanes without shoulders and no longer meets design standards for modern traffic. It serves as the western entrance to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation area and carries approximately 2,800 vehicles across Kentucky Lake each day.  

In January, 2012, a 322 ft. span of the bridge was struck and knocked into Kentucky Lake by the 8,200 ton cargo ship Delta Mariner. KYTC engineers developed plans to rebuild the missing span restoring traffic to the bridge in 121 days. 

The new Eggners Ferry Bridge will have four travel lanes, each 11 feet wide, plus 4-foot shoulders and a 10-foot-wide pedestrian/bicycle path. It will also feature a unique basket-handle tied arch design -- one of only a dozen in the world -- by Michael Baker Jr. Inc. and Palmer Engineering. 

The new bridge is part of a larger Lakes Bridges Project which also includes replacement of the Henry Lawrence Memorial Bridge on Lake Barkley. 

Once completed, the Lakes Bridges Project will provide a continuous, four-lane route from Aurora to Cadiz, crossing both lakes and LBL. 

The new Kentucky Lake Bridge is expected to be ready for traffic in December 2015. Finish work will continue after traffic is moved to the new structure with final completion in 2016. 

Rob Canning is a native of Murray, KY, a 2015 TV Production grad of Murray State. At MSU, he served as team captain of the Murray State Rowing Club. Rob's goal is to become a screenwriter, film director or producer and looks to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie for inspiration. He appreciates good music, mainly favoring British rock n' roll, and approves of anything with Jack White's name on it. When not studying, rowing or writing, Rob enjoys spending his free time with a book or guitar.
Related Content