Painting to begin on the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge
Spans over the Ohio River to receive a new coat of paint
Louisville, KY (Feb. 19, 2018) – The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has awarded a contract for painting the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge which carries US 31 across the Ohio River. Work is scheduled to begin the week of February 26 to clean and paint the center spans of this structure.
The old paint will be removed via a blast cleaning process prior to painting the steel. Crews plan to begin working on the Indiana end of the bridge and move south towards Kentucky.
The Clark Memorial Bridge will be reduced to one lane in each direction to accommodate this work. Traffic will be maintained on the two interior lanes. Contract crews will be utilizing the outside lanes to set up work platforms and containment.
Currently the outside lanes on the Clark Memorial Bridge have steel plates across the joints to provide a smooth riding surface for bicyclists. With the outside lanes being closed during construction, bicyclists will be restricted from using this bridge. In addition, the sidewalks will be closed to pedestrians.
Additional lane closures on the Clark Memorial Bridge are permitted in the evenings from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. the following morning. Traffic will be directed through the work zone using flagging operations.
No lane closures will be allowed on the bridge April 18-22, 2018 for the Kentucky Derby Festival's (KDF) Thunder Over Louisville event. Also no lane closures will be in place May 3-6, 2018 for other KDF events and the Kentucky Derby.
Spartan Contracting LLC of Hubbard Ohio was awarded a $27.9 million contract for this project. The work will span two construction seasons with construction scheduled for completion in November of 2019.
The Clark Memorial Bridge was completed in 1929 and approximately 15,000 vehicles cross it each day. The last complete painting of the bridge occurred in the 1980's. The Kentucky and Indiana approaches were cleaned and painted in 2010 and 2013, respectively.
The date and duration of this work may be adjusted if inclement weather or other unforeseen delays occur. Visit goky.ky.gov for the latest in traffic and travel information in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. You can also get traffic information for the District 5 counties at facebook.com/KYTCDistrict5 and twitter.com/KYTCDistrict5 .
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