Crews with Walsh Construction are in the midst of $22 million in improvements to the 52-year old Kennedy Bridge, as part of work on the Downtown Crossing portion of the Louisville – Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project. This isn’t a minor facelift; this is a major overhaul! But this is also an active construction site buzzing with activity, with workers counting on the limited space available to be able to do their jobs.
We can’t get a throng of reporters to the Kennedy Bridge to check out the progress, so we’re bringing the bridge to them – supplying a steady stream of video and photos during the process.
How do you let folks know that it’s a big deal that the Kennedy is getting a brand new floor system? You show them what the old one looked like, and explain that from the floor beams up, the Kennedy is basically getting brand new parts.
We’re talking about more than 3.5 million pounds of steel with just the new floor system. Add in 6,000 cubic yards of concrete and 2.6 million pounds of reinforcing steel and you’re talking about improvements that will add at least 35-years of new life to the bridge.
When you talk about pouring concrete, you tell them about the 65 concrete trucks cycling in and out during a 12-hour pour and show them the workers standing ankle deep in concrete, working quickly to ensure a smooth finish.
Let us take you on a trip to the Kennedy Bridge to check out the progress! And now for the best news — you’ll be driving on that new surface later this year. Southbound traffic is expected to move to the Kennedy Bridge in October. By late this year, it fully opens to six lanes of southbound traffic, with six lanes of northbound traffic on the Lincoln. That’s going to be a sight to see, and quite the story to tell!
Mindy Peterson
Senior Strategist
