LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Citing a rising number of crashes in work zones on the Clark Memorial Bridge, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will be closing it during the overnight hours starting this weekend.
The overnight closures on the span (commonly known as the Second Street Bridge) that connects Jeffersonville, Indiana, to downtown Louisville are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. on Sept. 9.
The bridge will remain closed each night until 5 a.m. the next day until the project is finished.
Crews began the repainting project in February. Since then, the transportation cabinet says there have been nearly 40 crashes in the work zone, and many of those happened during the overnight hours.
The crashes continued even though steps were taken in April to improve safety for crews painting the bridge.
Matt Bullock, Chief District Engineer for the transportation cabinet's District 5 office in Louisville, released a statement Tuesday:
"Our staff observed an increased number of crashes on the bridge earlier this year and began modifying our traffic control in April to mitigate crashes. Some of these steps included the addition of signage, rumble strips and the presence of law enforcement in the work zone. Unfortunately, work zone crashes have continued to rise with nearly half occurring after the last safety measure was put in place. We’re implementing overnight closures to minimize crashes that may cause life altering impacts to motorists and crews.”
The northbound lane of the bridge will remain open after University of Louisville basketball games at the KFC Yum! Center that end in the evening hours to expedite the flow of traffic out of downtown Louisville and into southern Indiana. That lane will close once most of the traffic has left the area near the Yum! Center.
The repainting project is scheduled for completion in November 2019. The bridge will reopen during the winter months once construction activity is paused due to unfavorable weather conditions.
During daytime hours, one lane of traffic in each direction will remain open. The outside lanes of the roadway are closed to accommodate cleaning and painting equipment, so drivers must use the inner two lanes.
Spartan Contracting LLC out of Hubbard, Ohio, was awarded a $27.9 million maintenance contract for cleaning and painting the Clark Memorial Bridge. The work will preserve the steel, thus extending the life of the bridge that was built in 1929.
The last time the Second Street Bridge was painted was in the 1980s. The Kentucky and Indiana approaches were cleaned and painted in 2010 and 2013, respectively.
Related Stories:
- Decision to paint the Clark Memorial Bridge yellow made 8 years ago
- Clark Memorial Bridge to be completely repainted for first time since 1980s
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