I-65 South to close for 2 days in downtown Louisville as crews repair bridge joints

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Construction on Interstate 65 South in downtown Louisville next week will create significant road closures for five days, likely causing major backups across the area.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said in a news release Friday that the left three lanes of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge will close at 8 p.m. Friday, July 18, as crews work to replace bridge joints and install high-friction surface treatment in "Hospital Curve." At the same time, the ramps to I-65 South from Interstates 71 South, 64 East and 64 West will also close.

Southbound traffic getting into Hospital Curve will be shut off entirely, pushing all drivers coming across the Kennedy bridge onto I-71 and I-64.

The closure will continue through the weekend until the morning of Monday, July 21, when one lane of I-65 South at Hospital Curve will open. The interstate is scheduled to fully open at 5 a.m. Wednesday, July 23, KYTC said.

The closures will allow crews to address the areas of the interstate impacted by recent semitruck crashes as well as makes "unrelated repairs" near the Kennedy bridge. The high-friction surface treatment, which will be installed from the end of the Kennedy bridge to the overpass over Witherspoon Street, protects the concrete and increases friction for drivers when the roadway is wet. KYTC said.

Work on the northbound side will be scheduled for another upcoming weekend, the state said.

Besides a harrowing rescue of a driver whose semi cab was dangling over the Kennedy Bridge, there were two tractor-trailer wrecks in the area on Kentucky Derby weekend. One of those crashes was attributed to the slick road surface. In the other, the driver was described as driving too fast for the conditions.

A 44-year-old Florida truck driver, Ahmed Ibrahim, died from smoke inhalation and thermal burns after he crashed into a guardrail on I-65 South at Jefferson Street last September.

And Jeffery Walker, of Arkansas, broke his right ankle and sustained other injuries when he jumped from the cab of his semitruck, which crashed on I-65 South at the Jefferson Street ramp. The truck caught fire before falling off the overpass.

Walker said he escaped by kicking the passenger door until it opened, then sliding down the semi's trailer before jumping about 20 feet to the ground below.

"I don't want to die," Walker recalled thinking. "I don't want to burn."

No other injuries were reported.

The I-65 split with the Jefferson Street ramp had two crashes in 2023 and one in 2022, according to the state data based on police accident reports.

The overpasses and bridges in the area were rebuilt about a decade ago as part of the $2.3 billion Ohio River Bridges Project, but there have been safety fixes since the new roads opened. In 2019, Kentucky officials added pavement markers on the ramp from I-64 West and I-71 South to I-65 South that give drivers more time to adjust as the ramp's lanes narrow.

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