The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says foundation work on the New Eggners Ferry Bridge will begin soon.
Last week, Johnson Brothers Construction notified the US Coast Guard that it's placing a construction flotilla on the water to start work on a pier near the east side of Kentucky Lake.
Installation of the pilings for the structure's foundation will create a permanently-marked navigation site in the river. Contractors will maintain appropriate waterway navigation lights and markers as work moves forward on the pier.
KYTC awarded the contract for the new Kentucky Lake bridge to Johnson Bros. Construction in February this year.
The new bridge will carry US 68/KY 80 over Kentucky Lake joining Marshall and Trigg counties and serve as the western entrance to Land Between the Lakes.
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.
The old bridge required 121 days of repair work after a 8,200 ton cargo ship struck it in January 2012 tearing away a 300-foot span.
The new 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. KYTC is aiming to award a contract for the second bridge by December of this year.
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.
