With its construction still on schedule, officials with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Tuesday that general traffic is expected to move onto the new U.S. 60 Cumberland River Bridge at Smithland in late April or early May.
Jim Smith Contracting anticipates being able to calculate a “more specific date” in the weeks prior to the $63.3 million structure.
Per KYTC District 1 Chief Engineer Kyle Poat, there actually was hope to move the traffic sooner.
However, a few factors moved the original timeline:
— A crane that was going to be used for demolition of the original bridges is tied up on another project.
— That demolition process for the old bridge now intercedes with the timeline for ospreys, which will arrive at their nests and start laying eggs. The eggs must hatch and the young must begin flying before the bridge can be destroyed.
— And if KYTC and Jim Smith Contracting can’t beat the ospreys, there’s time to complete “much more work” on the new bridge before the switch.
Poat noted the ospreys don’t arrive to their nests on the old bridge until on, or thereabouts, March 15.
In the original plan, Poat said there was a call for Jim Smith Contracting to pave the final driving surface after traffic had moved to the new bridge. This, along with trim and detail, can now move more efficiently.
Poat said there is going to be more time for “diamond grinding” on the bridge deck, while engineers consider the addition of a granite traction coating for improved durability.
This new bridge has a 40-foot-wide, two-lane deck with 12-foot driving lanes and 8-foot shoulders, giving ample clearance for most farm equipment to cross without delaying oncoming traffic. And in an effort to assist river navigation along the Cumberland River, this bridge will have no piers in the water during normal river conditions.
A critical connection for local Livingston County traffic, the Cumberland River directly splits the area. This bridge is the only direct connection for commuters, commerce and emergency personnel.
Formerly known as the “Lucy Jefferson Lewis Memorial Bridge,” the original structure opened in 1931, is 1,817 ft. long and serves nearly 5,100 vehicles a day.
