LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A major construction project on Interstate 65 South at "Hospital Curve" is finally underway.
Work was supposed to start last weekend but was postponed because of weather.
Starting at 8 p.m. Friday, crews closed the left three lanes of the Kennedy Bridge to replace bridge joints and install high-friction surface treatment.
Interstate 64 East and West ramps to I-65 South and the Interstate 71 South ramp to I-65 South are also closed.
Business owners and drivers are used to the headache of detours.
“It wasn’t too much trouble, but it definitely was a bit annoying,” Antwaun Scott said.
Businesses on Main Street in downtown Louisville are still seeing a lot of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
“We’ve seen some backup on Main and obviously Second Street’s always busy, it never stops, but other than that we haven’t heard anything from guests,” said Wayne Sweeney, director of operations at Merle’s Whiskey Kitchen.
Sweeney said from a business perspective, traffic congestion can help.
“Especially around happy hour, it helps us because people just stop and are like, ‘Hey, I’ll grab a beer while I’m waiting for that nonsense to go away,’” Sweeney said.
He said while the closure hasn’t caused too many issues for him, it could hurt people driving through Louisville to and from other cities since some exits are shut down.
The closures will allow crews to address areas of I-65 impacted by recent semitruck crashes. They will also make unrelated repairs near the Kennedy Bridge.
The high-friction surface treatment, which is being installed from the end of the bridge to the overpass over Witherspoon Street, will protect the concrete and increase friction for drivers when the road is wet.
Workers at Patrick O’Shea’s on Main Street said the shutdown was frustrating at first but easy to manage.
“I think the lesson to be learned is sometimes when we get frustrated, just calm down a minute, take a breath. It’s important to breathe, and sometimes there’s an easy fix to a problem we have,” Jody Baum said.
I-65 South will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday, July 28. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said once the interstate reopens Monday, I-65 South will be reduced to one lane through the corridor until Wednesday, July 30, at 5 a.m.
KYTC said additional weekend closures will be scheduled at a later date so crews can finish joint replacements on I-65 North.
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