September 2004

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded a $721,000 grant to Kentucky to help fund a study to determine how best to replace the aging Brent Spence Bridge: Kentucky Post: Kentucky awarded grant for Brent Spence Bridge (Sept. 10, 2004) 

Shelbyville, Shelby County, and state officials are preparing plans for dealing with alternate routes during emergency closures along I-64. In the past, such closures have resulted in clogged traffic along US 60.

More information: Shelbyville Sentinel News: Officials hammer out plan for I-64 disruption (Sept. 8, 2004) 

This years Tyler Park Fall Festival will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the bridge now known as Tyler Park Bridge. The bridge carries Baxter Avenue over a deep valley in Louisville. The festival will be held from 12:30 to 8:00pm Sunday in the park adjacent to the bridge.

More information: Courier-Journal: Fest will celebrate Tyler Park Bridge's 100th anniversary (Sept. 7, 2004) , Courier-Journal: City park concerts get people out and about (Aug. 25, 2004) 

New elk warnings sings will be places along some roads in Eastern Kentucky. Since elk were reintroduced into Kentucky in 1997, there have been 55 vehicle-elk collision. Some of the signs will replace signs that have previously been stolen.

More information: Associated Press: Elk-crossing signs going up on some state roads (Aug. 17, 2004) 

In a Letter to the Editor, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Division 3’s Public Information Officer Keirsten Jaggers outlines steps taken to correct a problem with traffic light timing on Nashville Road and reports that a project to widen the road to four lanes with a center turn lane is expected to begin in May 2005: Bowling Green Daily News: Road, traffic light improvements on the way (Sept. 5, 2004) 

Work to replace the KY 90 bridge over the east end of Lake Cumberland is expected to complete next year: Lexington Herald-Leader: Cross that bridge when it's finished (Sept. 4, 2004)  (includes photograph)

A project to replace a bridge over Owl Creek will force the 55 day closure of part of East Alexandria Pike in Campbell County: Kentucky Post: Bridge project to close part of Ky. 2925 (Aug. 31, 2004) 

Before being reconstructed and widened, a section of I-65 in northern Warren County had been known as Death Valley. Now that the highway has been reconstructed safety has been improved; however, there have been several accidents involving standing water in the northbound lanes between mile maker 29 and 30.

More information: Bowling Green Daily News: After fix, I-65 spot still sees trouble (Aug. 31, 2004) 

The iron bridge over the Green River along Tebbs Bend Road in Taylor County has been closed after an inspection found the 1907 bridge to be unsafe for traffic. The bridge will remain closed until it can be either repaired or replaced. The closure creates a hole in Taylor County’s Civil War trail: trail traffic must now cross the Green River via the KY 55 bridge.

More information: Central Kentucky News-Journal: Tebbs Bend Bridge Closed (Aug. 29, 2004) 

Traffic on the Shawneetown Bridge will be reduced to one, narrow lane during a project to repaint the bridge. The traffic constriction will be in place through November 15 when the project pauses for the winter and will return once the project resumes next spring. The project is expected to last until November 2005.

More information: Henderson Gleaner: Shawneetown Bridge lane to narrow (Aug. 29, 2004) 

A member of the congressional committee debating the next federal transportation plan has suggested that area officials only ask only for the money they need for the next six years of planning to replace the Brent Spence Bridge and not the entire amount of money needed to replace the structure that carries I-71 and I-75 over the Ohio River: Cincinnati Enquirer: Brent Spence, 'an invitation to disaster,' may get funds (Aug. 27, 2004) 

Officials conducting the study of how to best replace the bridge have determined that the five current preliminary options are all worthy of additional study: Kentucky Post: Bridge plans offer smoother traffic flow (Sept. 3, 2004) 

Archeologists working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have uncovered the remnants of a prehistoric campsite in the path of the KY 49 reconstruction project. The find was carefully evaluated and determined to date back to between 2000 B.C. and 200 B.C.

More information: Lebanon Enterprise: Prehistoric Native American campsite is found near Bradfordsville (Aug. 26, 2004) 

A new bridge on KY 3113 will divert traffic from the historic Dover Bridge. The new span will ease the stress from traffic crossing the covered bridge.

More information: Maysville Ledge Independent: Road Closure Needed to Build New Bridge and Save Historic Bridge (Aug. 26, 2004) 

Transportation officials are considering construct a roundabout  to ease congestion at the intersection of KY 56 and KY 81 in Owensboro: Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer: Roundabout may help ease traffic congestion at 'the Y' (Aug. 25, 2004) 

Officials in Elizabethtown have identified a stretch of US 31W as the most accident prone street in the area: &091;Hardin County News-Enterprise: ROAD RULES: Cities ID traffic hot spots (August 24, 2004) 

The intersection of US 31W, Lincoln Trail Boulevard, and Wilson Road will be reconstructed: Hardin County News-Enterprise: Intersection plan revealed (Aug. 26, 2004) 

Work was to begin in late August to repaint the Kennedy Bridge. The project is expected to last until August 2006.

More information: Business First of Louisville: Long-awaited painting of Kennedy Bridge begins (August 23, 2004) , Courier-Journal: Kennedy Bridge Readied for Painting Project (August 24, 2004) 

Ground was broken for the Somerset northern bypass in August. The new road is planned to become part of the proposed I-66 route across southern Kentucky.

More information: WKYT: I-66 Ground Breaking (August 22, 2004) 

Work to rehabilitate the Shawnee Exressway—I-264 between Dixie Highway and I-64 west of downtown Louisville—was symbolically completed at an August 11, 2004 ribbon cutting.

More information: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet: Ribbon Cutting Marks End of Shawnee Expressway Project (August 11, 2004) , Shawnee Expressway Project: Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony (August 11, 2004) 

• Paul Steely has been appointed as Commissioner of the Department of Aviation: (more information )
  
  
• Roy Mundy has been appointed as Commissioner of the Department of Vehicle Regulation: (more information )
  
  
• James R. "Jim" Wood and Russell F. Brannon have appointed to the Transportation Cabinet's Office of Legal Services: (more information )
  
  
• The cabinet saved $23 million in Fiscal Year 2004 through improved efficiency: (more information )

Work is underway to replace joints and replace the deck of the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge over the Ohio River at Covington. The bridge, which shares piers with the neighboring C&O railroad bridge, opened in 1974 and carries US 25, US 127, and US 42 into Cincinnati.

More information: Cincinnati Post: Quick rehab gives Clay Wade new life (August 24, 2004) 

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recently presented three options for the so-called Heartland Parkway in central Kentucky between Columbia and Springfield.

• Option 1 would construct a new interstate-like highway between the Cumberland Parkway and Blue Grass Parkway. The new highway would follow a corridor roughly two miles to the west of KY 55/US 68/KY 555.
• Option 2 would widen the existing KY 55/US 68/KY 555 route to four lanes.
• Option 3 would keep the current KY 55/US 68/KY 555 route at two lanes, but add passing lanes every three miles.

Area residents expressed a wide variety of opinions about the three options at the recent public meetings.

More information: Lebanon Enterprise: Opinions vary about Heartland Parkway options (August 19, 2004)