By Chris Taylor
Kentucky Dam Village, KY – The new Tennessee River bridge below Kentucky Dam may look a little rusty to the casual observer, and it is. But it's designed to. It was constructed with an oxidizing steel, and that makes the bridge cheaper to build and maintain. Department of Highways spokesman Keith Todd says the US-62/641 highway bridge and the railway bridge next to it will never have to be painted.
"The only people that see the underneath of the bridge are fisherman and birds. That bridge cost about a hundred million dollars. You're probably talking about over the life of that bridge saving a hundred million dollars."
Todd says bridges typically need painting every 15 to 20 years and not having to paint them saves the commonwealth about a million dollars annually.