Blackiston Mill Road Bridge remains closed with no reopening date set

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Blackiston Mill Road Bridge remains closed, and there's no timeline for possible reopening.

The bridge that connects Floyd and Clark counties in southern Indiana was closed due to the dam underneath the bridge failed earlier this month.

"The dam itself broke lose over the weekend, and a lot of the water is rushing over and has taken out a lot of the soil up to the bridge and around the approach of the bridge," Floyd County Emergency Management Director Kent Barrow said Feb. 3.

On Wednesday, Floyd County Commissioner Al Knable said Floyd County obtained voluntary permission to access the privately owned Blackiston Mill Dam property. He said the work of clearing debris from behind and atop the dam will begin as soon as conditions allow for safe access.

Engineers have been assessing the bridge.

While the bridge is closed, thousands of people must find a detour. Barrow said the bridge usually sees about 20,000 cars every day traveling across.

Plans have been in place since 2017 to replace the Blackiston Mill Road Bridge, according to Knable. He said a new bridge would be moved slightly upstream and would be wider, with room for bicycles and pedestrians. He said a new bridge will cost millions of dollars and include federal funding, and as of now, the schedule to open the project for bidding is set for late this summer.