Louisville trucking company prepares for major detours during I-65 closure

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — We're just a few weeks away from five miles of Interstate 65 shutting down, and everyone is preparing, especially trucking companies who have shipments to deliver.

Mercer Transportation, based in downtown Louisville, is one of those companies who constantly has trucks driving on I-65 and because of that they're trying to plan ahead.

Mercer marketing director Brian Helton said their trucks drivers are being asked to take the highway detour which is I-264 to I-65.

"We're going to be stuck in that highway detour with everybody else," said Helton.

People around the city like Logan Street Market owner Mike Safai said they're nervous about the possibility of large trucks being detoured through small streets.

"Especially if semis are going to come in it's going to be hard for people to park here, it's going to be too crowded for people to get in and out of here," Safai said.

However, Helton told us navigating through the city of Louisville is difficult for semi drivers and unsafe, which is why at Mercer they're not suggesting it.

"We're going to try to stay out of the neighborhoods, stick to the highway even if it causes extra delays just for safety sake," Helton added.

They're even telling some drivers if they can find another way to get to where they're going to stay away from Louisville entirely this summer.

For regular drivers on the road, Helton asks for patience while semi drivers try to navigate the traffic as well.

"When you have a truck that has 80,000 pounds it can't stop as fast as us, don't cut them off, don't cut over in front of them, give them space to operate that equipment," he said.

Crews will be replacing three aging bridges along I-65 from Jefferson Street to the Watterson Expressway beginning June 1. It's expected to be completed by August 1.