ColumbiaMagazine.com
Printed from:

Welcome to Columbia Magazine  
 



































 
Gov. Beshear announces repair of Eggners Ferry Bridge by Memorial Day

Expedited procurement to save tourism season in Lakes region; Same contractor repaired I-64 Sherman Minton Bridge in Louisville

FRANKFORT, KY - Gov. Steve Beshear announced today, Thursday, March 8, 2012, the award of an emergency contract to repair and reopen the damaged Eggners Ferry Bridge over Kentucky Lake by Memorial Day weekend - saving the crucial summer tourism season for the region around Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

The contract, with a low bid of $7 million, was awarded by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to Hall Contracting of Kentucky Inc. - the company that last month completed repairs ahead of schedule to reopen the Interstate-64 Sherman Minton Bridge in Louisville.



The Eggners Ferry Bridge, which carries U.S. 68 and KY 80 across Kentucky Lake between Marshall and Trigg counties in western Kentucky, has been closed since the night of Jan. 26, when a cargo vessel struck and tore away a 322-foot-long span of the 80-year-old bridge.

"Since the night the bridge was struck and the highway was severed, we have worked with one thought in mind - to get this bridge repaired and Route 68/80 reopened as quickly as possible," Gov. Beshear said. "We have never lost sight of the damage that the loss of this bridge is doing to area businesses and the toll it has taken, in time and fuel costs, on folks who have been forced into long detours to get from one side of the lakes to the other."

To save valuable time, and shave several months off the project, KYTC opted to make an emergency solicitation rather than go through its customary construction procurement process, in which a project is designed and put out for bids. The cabinet instead invited a select group of prequalified bridge contractors to submit bids by 2pmCT on Wednesday, March 7.

Contractors were given access to original design plans and recent inspection reports for the bridge. Each contractor was instructed to submit a lump-sum price that included all costs for engineering, materials, labor and equipment needed for repairing the bridge's pier caps, replacing the truss span and reopening the bridge. The critical requirement is to reopen the bridge to traffic by Sunday, May 27. The contract includes a penalty of $50,000 per day for missing that deadline.

Two other companies besides Hall Contracting submitted proposals: 1) Walsh Contracting, of Crown Point, Ind. - $11.2 million, and 2) C.J. Mahan, of Grove City, Ohio - $11.4 million.

The project requires a new asphalt or concrete deck 20 feet wide, comporting with dimensions of the rest of the existing bridge, and a railing system at least as strong as the existing rails. In addition, the truss must be given one primer coat of paint that closely resembles the color of adjacent spans.

KYTC gave serious consideration to adding a ferry service to the area to accommodate traffic, but ultimately chose not to implement it. The bridge carried nearly 2,700 cars per day, and at best, a ferry could carry only 40 cars per hour. This would create an unreasonable bottleneck. Second, a ferry service would likely demand the construction of access roads, as well as possible dredging of the lake to allow the ferry's safe passage. By the time those accommodations were finished, the bridge would be likely close to completion.

The Eggners Ferry Bridge is obsolete, as is a similarly aged and sized bridge over nearby Lake Barkley. Both are being replaced with four-lane bridges in a project that is still in preconstruction phase. The recommended highway plan that Gov. Beshear sent to the General Assembly on Jan. 17 provides $330 million in construction funding for the two bridges combined.


This story was posted on 2012-03-08 12:21:10
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.



Sherman Minton Bridge between Louisville, KY - New Albany, IN



2012-03-08 - Oho River, Louisville KY/New Albany, IN - Photo by Ed Waggener.
The Sherman Minton Bridge
is now open again, following repairs completed ahead of schedule by the same firm which has been awarded the contract to repair Eggner's Ferry Bridge on US 68/KY 80 over Kentucky Lake. The picture was taken from a moving van from the Kentucky Side of the River, on the West Side of Louisville. (See also Sherman Minton Bridge, Wikipedia entry Clicking ReadMore accesses story of repair contract let on Eggner's Ferry Bridge.

Read More... | Comments? | Click here to share, print, or bookmark this photo.



 

































 
 
Quick Links to Popular Features


Looking for a story or picture?
Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com.

 

Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728.
Phone: 270.403.0017


Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.