LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – After years of planning, construction could start as early as April on a massive renovation of the Sherman Minton Bridge and repairs to nearby roads on both sides of the Ohio River.
The work would be substantially done by August 2023 and finished in early 2024, according to the proposal by Kokosing Construction Co., the contractor Indiana officials chose to oversee the $137 million project.
Kokosing’s plans shed new light on the makeover to the Interstate 64 corridor between Louisville and New Albany, Ind., which Kentucky and Indiana transportation officials hope will add three decades to the 58-year-old, double-decked bridge.
In particular, Kokosing has laid out how traffic would be affected during five construction segments, including preliminary plans for lane restrictions. The overall plan assumes that Indiana lets Kokosing and its team begin work by February 9; the Indiana Finance Authority now to give that notice in early March.
Even if it’s adjusted, the schedule put forth by Kokosing is a guide to how construction will proceed:
Phase 1 (April 2021-January 2022) During this phase, crews would rebuild eastbound sections of I-64 in Kentucky and Indiana, including the Sherman Minton. Other work includes painting the bridge’s truss and “upgrading” the I-265 interchanges with I-64 and I-65 in southern Indiana. Two lanes of the bottom deck of the bridge would be closed, while one lane of I-64 East would remain open. Two westbound lanes and an eastbound lane would be open on the deck above.
Phase 2 (January 2022-July 2022) Painting would continue on the bridge, and other eastbound segments would be rebuilt. The closures on the lower deck would shift, but there would still be one eastbound lane open below. The traffic configuration on the upper deck wouldn’t change.
Phase 3 (July 2022-December 2022) Work would move to I-64 West, with the reconstruction of the bridge deck and other elevated sections. Crews also would rebuild portions of Spring, Elm and 5th streets in New Albany and start replacing the interstate bridge’s hanger cables, or vertical rods that support the roadway.
Kokosing says it will use an “innovative” approach – installing the new cables while the existing ones are in place -- to speed up construction and make future cable inspections easier. New gusset plates that connect bridge members can be added; “the strength is only temporarily reduced by one bolt during the process,” the company’s proposal says.
During this phase, two lanes of traffic on the upper bridge would be closed. One westbound lane would be open, as would another westbound lane and two eastbound lanes below.
Phase 4 (December 2022-May 2023) Work would continue on I-64 West, including bridge painting and rebuilding of the westbound structures. Crews would replace the rest of the bridge’s hanger cables. Traffic patterns would shift slightly on the upper bridge, with two lanes still closed.
Phase 5 (May 2023-August 2023) As the project nears completion, traffic would return to normal. The bridge painting – a silver color from the original 1960s-era span – would finish.
Besides the lane reductions during construction, Kokosing will be able to close the bridge entirely for nine straight days and up to three weekends per year under a traffic plan approved by the Indiana Department of Transportation traffic plan.
That scenario would mean a full closure during 54 days of an anticipated 843 total days of work, or just over 6 percent of the time.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and residents were concerned about how such closures might affect them. In 2019, the One Southern Indiana chamber of commerce came out in opposition to a full shutdown.
But in contrast to the abrupt, emergency closure of the bridge in 2011, businesses should have enough notice during the upcoming work to find other routes during those full shutdowns, said Wendy Dant Chesser, the chamber’s president and CEO.
“I don’t think that everybody’s excited about it,” she said. “But I would say that there’s at least an understanding that they’re not as helpless as they were the last time. They can plan for this.”
Kokosing, of Westerville, Ohio, will work with Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., a designer of the Abraham Lincoln and Lewis and Clark bridges during the Ohio River Bridges Project.
Kentucky and Indiana worked together during the procurement and are sharing the costs of the project, which as recently as 2020 was expected to be around $90 million. But the Kokosing bid accepted last month by the Indiana Finance Authority was a 52 percent increase in the overall price tag.
Andrea Brady, a project spokeswoman, said the increase is a result of several factors, including a “low-impact traffic approach” and additional repairs planned to structural steel and the bridge’s concrete substructure, which includes abutments and piers. The new cost was within 2 percent of a final engineering estimate, she said.
Kokosing redacted the cost breakdown in its proposal. Under Indiana public records law, the company views those figures as a proprietary trade secret and doesn’t have to disclose them even after a final selection is made, said Andy Seiwert, general counsel for the Indiana Finance Authority.
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